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UNIVERSITY 

LIBRARY 


FRIENDS  OF 
DUKE  UNIVERSITY 
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GIFT  OF 


Dr.  J,  B.  Rhine 


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https://archive.org/details/spiritmessages01cors 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 

WITH  AH  IHTRODUCTORY  ESSAY  ON 

SPIRITUAL  VITALITY 


BY 

HIRAM  CORSON,  A.  M„  LL.  D„  LITT.  D. 

PROFESSOR  EMERITUS  OF  ENGLISH  LITERA¬ 
TURE  IN  THE  CORNELL  UNIVERSITY 


NEW  EDITION  iQiq 


^ristop/er^ 

PUBLISHING 
HOUSE 


BOSTON 


Copyright  igri 

By  Eugene  R.  Corson 


U3,'l 


To 

MRS.  MINNIE  MESERVE  SOULE 

Through  whose  mediumship  the  Spirit  Messages 
herein  were  delivered this  book  is  dedicated 
by  the  grateful  recipient  of  them , 

Hiram  Corson . 


In  Memoriam 


C.  %  C.,  P.  H.  C,  J.  C., 


e.  c. 


Foreword 


The  Introduction  on  ‘Spiritual  Vitality ’  is  an  enlarge¬ 
ment  of  an  article  on  that  subject  which  I  contributed 
to  ‘Light/  of  London,  and  which  was  published  in  that 
Journal  on  the  9th  of  July  last. 

The  Spirit  Band  from  whom  the  messages  were  re¬ 
ceived,  were  brought  together  by  my  wife,  at  different 
times  within  the  two  years,  or  more,  after  her  decease, 
which  occurred  on  the  21st  of  May,  1901. 

The  sittings  were,  at  first,  in  New  York  City,  the 
medium  being  Mrs.  Mayer,  the  most  powerful  of  the 
slate-writing  kind  I  have  known  in  my  long  experience. 
She  has  now  passed  to  the  spirit  world. 

Eight  years  ago,  I  engaged  a  Swedish  housekeeper, 
Mrs.  Matilda  Sjaegren,  who  had  known  nothing  before 
of  spiritual  seances,  but  had  been,  early  in  life,  con¬ 
scious  of  spirit  visitations.  During  two  visits  to  me 
from  Mrs.  Mayer,  she  became  interested  in  the  subject 
and,  after  she  left,  we  began  to  have  regular  daily  sit- 
tmgs  at  a  small  table.  For  some  time,  the  manifestations 
were  only  of  a  physical  character.  After  some  months, 
raps  came  on  the  table,  and  we  got  answer,  ‘yes’  or  ‘no’ 


FOREWORD 


viii 

to  questions  asked,  three  raps  meaning  ‘yes,’  and  one 
rap ,  | no.’ 

After  some  months,  again,  there  were  whispered 
voices;  and  these,  in  time,  became  fully  vocal. 

At  this  stage  of  our  progress,  the  sittings  began  to  be 
held  only  twice  a  week,  and  so  continued  for  two  year§ 
or  more,  and  afterivards  but  once  a  week,  one  of  my  sons 
having  said  that  they  had  all  been  advanced,  that  their 
ivork  would  consequently  be  increased,  and  that  they 
could  come  but  once  a  week.  The  weekly  sitting  has 
been  continued  to  the  present  time. 

In  reply  to  my  question,  what  was  meant  by  advance¬ 
ment,  he  said  they  had  passed  to  a  sphere  of  higher  vi¬ 
brations. 

It  was  at  the  request  of  the  Rand  that  I  went  to 
Boston,  last  September,  to  have  sittings  with  Mrs.  Minnie 
Meserve  Soule,  a  trance  medium  of  high  repute,  who  had 
been  highly  recommended  to  me  by  Miss  Lilian  Whiting, 
who  has  written  so  much,  indirectly,  on  Spiritualism. 

The  object  of  the  request  of  the  Band  was,  as  they 
explained  it,  that  they  could  give  me  long  and  coherent 
messages.  (The  messages  received  at  home  were  gener¬ 
ally  not  more  than  a  sentence  or  two,  the  ‘power’  not 
being  sufficient  for  longer  messages.) 

The  remarkable  messages  contained  in  this  book,  are 
the  result  of  twenty-four  daily  sittings  with  Mrs.  Soule. 


FOREWORD 


IX 


The  names  of  the  spirits  constituting  the  regular  Band 
are  those  given  in  the  title  of  the  book,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  the  four  last,  Goldwin  Smith,  Nathaniel  Haw¬ 
thorne,  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  and  Valentine  Mott. 
These  four  were  brought,  at  different  times,  to  the  sit¬ 
ting,  by  their  friends,  and  special  honors  were  shown 
them. 

The  sittings  were  guarded  from  intruding  spirits  by 
a  large  band  of  Indian  spirits,  brought  by  Longfellow, 
whose  work  is  in  the  Indian  sphere.  Intruding  spirits, 
who  are  generally  of  a  loiv  rank,  woxdd  seriously  have 
interfered  with  the  messages  of  the  Band,  which  messages 
were,  as  previously  purposed,  each  of  a  special  character. 

My  long  and  loving  relationship  with  the  Band,  and 
my  not  being  a  scientific  investigator  (that  is,  one  who 
applies  his  insulated  intellect  to  a  spiritual  subject ) 
caused  the  conditions  to  be  altogether  favorable  for  the 
delivery  of  the  messages. 

All  the  members  of  the  Band  knew  of  me  when  they 
were  in  the  body,  and  of  my  work  as  Professor  of  English 
Literature ;  and  I  was  acquainted  with  their  literary 
works,  and  included  some  of  them  in  my  courses  of  lec¬ 
tures  and  readings. 

This  will  partly  serve  to  explain  the  make-up  of  the 
Band. 

Robert  Browning  and  Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning 


X 


FOREWORD 


were  the  first  to  join  my  wife,  daughter,  and  two  sons,  at 
the  sittings.  Browning  I  knew  for  several  years;  my 
wife  and  I  were  last  with  him  in  Venice,  in  November, 
1889;  and  when  we  parted,  he  had  but  a  month  and  four 
days  to  live,  though  he  showed  remarkable  vigor  at  the 
time.  The  last  words  he  said  to  us,  after  bidding  us 
good  bye,  were,  “  now  remember  you  must  visit  me  next 
May  at  De  Vere  Gardens  in  London.” 

I  published,  in  1886,  an  introduction  to  the  study  of 
his  poetry,  which  met  with  his  highest  approbation.  In 
his  letter  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  book,  he 
wrote — “Let  it  remain  as  an  assurance  to  younger  poets 
that,  after  fifty  years’  work  unattended  by  any  conspicu¬ 
ous  recognition,  an  over-payment  may  be  made,  if  there 
be  such  another  munificent  appreciator  as  I  have  been 
privileged  to  find;  in  which  case  let  them,  even  if  more 
deserving,  be  equally  grateful.” 

Elizabeth  Barrett  Browning  received  my  daughter 
when  she  passed  to  the  spirit  world  in  1874,  and  was  her 
guardian  angel  until  her  mother  went  over  in  1901. 

I  write  this  about  these  two  great  poets  as  an  obvious 
explanation  of  their  being  the  first  to  join  my  wife  and 
children  at  the  earliest  sittings,  which  were  held  in  New 
York,  Mrs.  Mayer  being,  as  I  have  said,  the  medium. 

Tennyson  came  next,  brought  by  Browning  and  wel¬ 
comed  by  my  wife  to  the  Band.  They  were  devoted 


FOREWORD 


xi 


friends  when  in  the  body,  and  the  messages  show  that 
they  are  devoted  friends  in  the  spirit  world. 

Tennyson  knew  of  me  when  he  was  in  the  body,  first 
through  my  annotated  edition  of  “ The  Two  Voices ”  and 
“ Dream  of  Fair  Women,”  published  in  1882 ;  and  a 
short  time  before  his  decease,  he  read  my  book  on  the 
Aesthetics  of  English  Verse,  and  expressed  himself  de¬ 
lighted  with  it. 

Walt  Whitman  I  knew  the  last  seven  years  of  his  life. 
I  saw,  several  years  before,  the  greatness  of  his  message 
tis  embodied  in  his  “ Leaves  of  Grass,”  especially  in  his 
‘‘Song  of  the  Open  Road,”  and  I  presented  that  message 
to  my  students,  in  my  courses  of  lectures  on  American 
literature. 

He  has  shown  in  his  messages,  as  will  be  seen,  a  great 
devotion  to  my  two  sons,  who  passed  away  in  babyhood, 
one,  fifty-four,  the  other  forty-nine  years  ago ;  and  they, 
in  their  messages,  show  a  like  devotion  to  him. 

My  wife  corresponded  with  Longfellow,  now  56  years 
ago,  while  she  was  making  a  French  translation  of  his 
‘Hyperion,’  with  which  he  expressed  himself  highly 
pleased ;  he  said,  in  fact,  that  her  translation  was  better 
than  the  original.  She  also  translated  portions  of  ‘Hia¬ 
watha’  into  German,  in  the  trochaic-tetrameter  verse  of 
the  original.  There  is  a  playful  allusion,  in  one  of  his 
messages,  to  her  translation  of  ‘Hyperion.’ 


FOREWORD 


xii 

Browning  and  Tennyson  knew  F.  W.  H.  Myers  as  a 
poet  and  a  distinguished  Virgil  scholar,  when  they  were 
in  the  body.  I  don’t  remember  how  he  was  brought  to 
the  Band.  But  I  remember  he  was  joyfully  received. 

I  used,  for  several  years,  his  Wordsworth,  published 
thirty  years  ago,  in  ‘English  Men  of  Letters ,’  in  my  de¬ 
partment  of  English  Literature.  This  work  shows  his 
early  spiritual  vitality,  which  long  after  led  to  his  inter¬ 
est  in  Psychical  Research,  the  result  being  his  great  work, 
‘Human  Personality  and  its  survival  of  bodily  death/  a 
great  contribution  to  real  Psychology.  Much  that  is  so 
called  is  only  somatology ,  the  science  of  the  physical 
body.  He  has  expressed  his  great  pleasure  in  coming  to 
my  private  sittings  after  the  repeated  tests  of  his  iden¬ 
tity,  made  in  London,  by  those  who  knew  him  in  the 
body,  and  without  their  being  satisfied. 

I  knew  Phillips  Brooks  and  Frances  Bennett,  the  latter 
about  forty  years.  I  gave  a  course  of  lectures  and  read¬ 
ings,  nearly  every  year,  during  that  period,  in  the  Ladies’ 
school  with  which  she  was  connected.  She  was  an  Epis¬ 
copalian,  and  had  then  no  belief  in  Spiritualism.  She 
thought  I  had  been  deceived! 

How  far  Phillips  Brooks’s  belief  in  spirit  visitation 
went,  when  he  was  in  the  body,  can  be  seen  in  one  of  his 
great  messages. 

The  messages  of  Goldwin  Smith,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne, 


FOREWORD 


ziii 

William  Ewart  Gladstone,  and  Valentine  Mott  will  tell 
their  own  story. 

In  one  of  Goldwin  Smith’s  latest  articles,  written  in 
his  earthly  life,  he  bids  farewell  to  ghosts.  He  had  no 
belief  whatever  in  spirit  visitation.  The  first  sentence 
of  his  first  message,  given  herein  (he  had  been  but  three 
months  in  the  spirit  world),  indicates  the  sudden  change 
induced  by  physical  death:  ‘I  believe  the  world  would 
fall  to  pieces  if  it  were  not  held  together  by  the  influ¬ 
ences  from  the  Spirit  World.’ 

I  have  thus  noted  the  unique  character  of  the  Spirit 
Band,  including  the  four  great  spirits  who  were  wel¬ 
comed  to  the  sittings. 

In  the  nine  years  of  my  sittings  with  this  Band,  I  never 
had  occasion  to  question  the  identity  of  any  member  of  it. 

Identity  is  a  thing  which  cannot  be  proved  to  unbe¬ 
lievers  in  spirit  visitation,  nor  even  to  some  believers; 
and  it  is  not  worth  while  to  attempt  proof  to  such,  as  was 
shown  in  the  case  of  F.  W.  H.  Myers. 

The  time  is  not  far  distant  when  there  will  be  (and  it 
will  appear  to  some  to  be  very  sudden)  a  wonderful 
transformation  of  the  general  mind,  which  is  now  being 
more  or  less  unconsciously  moulded  by  the  atmosphere 
which  is  in  course  of  rapid  development.  H.  C. 


Prefatory  Note 

This  book  is  the  legacy  of  an  old  man.  It  was  written 
in  the  closing  months  of  his  long  life.  To  see  it  through 
the  press  was  his  latest  task,  and  it  was  his  dying  wish 
that  it  be  published  as  he  left  it.  That  wish  I  gladly 
carry  out. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  advisable  in  order  that  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  book  and  my  father’s  eagerness  for  its  pub¬ 
lication  may  be  better  understood,  to  state  briefly  his 
attitude  toward  psychical  research,  and  especially  toward 
spiritualism  as  a  religion.  It  will  be  evident  at  once  to 
the  reader  that  he  accepted  these  messages  without  the 
slightest  doubt  of  their  genuineness.  To  him  they  were 
exactly  what  they  purported  to  be,  as  much  so  as  if  he 
had  received  them  viva  voce  or  by  letter  from  friends  in 
this  world.  As  far  back  as  I  can  remember  this  was  his 
attitude  toward  many  such  psychical  phenomena.  He 
has  told  me  that  he  was  aware  at  times  of  unseen  pres¬ 
ences — especially  one  unseen  presence  often  with  him  in 
his  youth — so  that  the  reality  of  this  “other  world’’  was 
believed  in  just  as  he  believed  in  the  reality  of  this  world. 
It  had  become  to  him  a  matter  of  course.  To  the  com- 


2 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


munications  received  he  applied  the  same  standards  of 
judgment  he  applied  to  the  people  he  met  or  the  writ¬ 
ings  he  read.  If  they,  their  surroundings,  the  tone  of 
their  conversation  commended  themselves  to  him,  he  ac¬ 
cepted  them  and  received  them  into  his  confidence.  The 
possibility  of  fraud  he  met  exactly  as  he  met  it  in  his 
relations  with  his  fellowman  in  every  day  life.  It  was 
no  more  nor  less  than  the  fraud  in  the  world  at  large. 
In  his  dealings  with  his  fellowman  he  felt  it  better  in 
the  long  run  to  trust  than  to  mistrust.  A  wise  and  dis¬ 
criminating  trust  he  counted  rather  a  protection  against 
deception,  while  an  attitude  of  distrust  courted  decep¬ 
tion.  And  as  I  look  back  over  his  life,  I  find  that  his 
choice  of  friends  was  usually  a  wise  and  fortunate  one. 
I  know,  too,  that  he  seldom  lost  anything  by  hasty  over- 
confidence.  Certainly  in  his  academic  life  he  had  a  rare¬ 
ly  erring  instinct  as  to  character  among  his  colleagues 
and  his  students.  The  good  he  eagerly  cultivated,  the 
bad  he  left  to  their  own  devices ;  yet  there  was  no  lack 
of  hospitality  in  his  home  or  of  discipline  in  his  lecture 
room. 

With  the  English  “Society  for  Psychical  Research” 
he  was  in  sympathy,  for  he  felt  that  its  members  were 
scholars  and  men  of  character.  It  was  only  when  such 
research  seemed  based  on  absolute  doubt,  when  there 
was  no  open  mind  (no  “mind  to  let,”  as  Sir  William 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


3 


Crookes  puts  it),  and  where  the  endeavor  seemed  to  be 
rather  to  detect  the  fraudulent  than  to  discover  the  gen¬ 
uine,  that  he  grew  impatient  and  indignant,  and  then 
his  indignation  was  always  most  outspoken. 

For  the  “insulated  intellect,”  as  he  often  said  to  me 
(and  often  in  his  writings) — the  intellect  of  mere  cun¬ 
ning — he  had  no  admiration.  It  Was  only  when  mind 
was  linked  with  man’s  finer  spiritual  nature  that  he  felt 
any  real  creative  or  abiding  work  to  be  produced.  Not 
only  in  poetic,  literary,  or  artistic  work  did  he  feel  this 
true,  but  in  purely  scientific  and  in  the  most  practical 
and  matter-of-fact  work,  the  greatest  results  came  with 
the  cooperation  of  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  nature. 
And  so,  too,  with  the  faculty  of  observation,  a  function 
so  important  to  the  scientific  mind,  this  same  coopera¬ 
tion  he  counted  necessary.  Here,  he  believed,  man’s 
deeper  and  higher  self  acts  as  finder,  while  mind  alone 
checks  off  and  arranges  the  findings.  We  find  what  we 
have  been  prompted  to  look  for.  Thus  an  aspiration,  an 
undefined  sense  of  the  existence  of  something  hoped  for, 
leads  on  to  the  thing  itself,  which  the  intellect  pounces 
upon  with  all  the  delight  of  an  independent  and  acci¬ 
dental  find.  He  held,  further,  that  the  higher  observa¬ 
tion  comes  through  a  passive,  receptive  state,  not  through 
one  of  great  mental  intentness,  with  the  eyes  glued  to 
the  spot.  And  of  this  view  he  has  spoken  to  me  in  con- 


4 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


nection  with  much  of  the  psychical  research  and  the 
treatment  of  mediums — such  as  occurred  in  the  case  of 
Eusapia  Palladino  in  this  country.  The  investigators 
had  taken  it  for  granted  in  the  beginning  that  she  was 
a  fraud,  and  their  whole  time  and  endeavors  were  taken 
up  with  this  assumption.  Before  her  arrival  they  even 
had  rehearsals  where  one  acted  as  the  medium  cheating, 
while  others  watched,  each  with  his  own  special  part  to 
detect.  By  this  attitude,  this  intentness  to  discover 
fraud  and  only  fraud,  the  spontaneity  of  the  phenomena, 
he  thought,  had  been  suppressed,  their  own  idee  fixe  hav¬ 
ing  precluded  any  belief  whatever  in  the  reality  of  the 
phenomena.  Faith  and  belief  seemed  to  him  better 
companions  in  work  than  doubt  and  distrust;  and  this 
not  only  in  psychical  research,  but  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world  at  large. 

Thus,  as  with  many  others,  even  with  some  who  have 
approached  the  subject  from  the  scientific  side,  spiritual¬ 
ism  had  come  to  be  to  him  a  religion,  and  his  daily  talk 
with  his  unseen  loved  ones  had  become  as  necessary  as  to 
the  devot  his  daily  prayer  and  meditation.  Only  they 
who  were  with  him  in  his  home  could  realize  how  deeply 
this  communion  had  entered  into  his  life,  from  the  mo¬ 
ment  he  arose  in  the  morning  until  he  fell  asleep  at  night. 
It  had  become  a  sort  of  beatific  cult — a  form  of  ancestor- 
worship.  Before  the  portrait  of  each  loved  one  was  ever 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


5 


the  floral  offering.  Every  memento  of  the  past  had  be¬ 
come  sacred.  The  little  room  dedicated  to  his  loved  ones 
had  become  a  shrine.  If  he  walked  or  rode  over  the  hills 
it  was  ever  with  the  hope  and  the  assurance  that  his 
unseen  loved  ones  were  enjoying  with  him  the  trees,  the 
flowers,  the  lake,  the  sky,  the  distant  view.  If  he  was 
mistaken,  his  error  was  more  beautiful  than  truth,  for  it 
brought  him  peace  and  happiness  when  circumstance 
and  his  own  nature  had  made  him  lonely  in  this  world, 
even  with  many  friends  and  admirers  about  him. 

Holding  this  faith  and  this  belief  he  had  long  ceased 
to  look  for  tests  or  evidential  matter  of  any  kind.  Yet, 
when  some  bit  of  evidence  did  come,  he  showed  much 
pleasure,  welcoming  it  as  a  further  confirmation  of  his 
faith.  How  often  I  have  heard  him  say:  “I  am  not  an 
investigator  and  never  was  one.” 

As  early  as  1874,  soon  after  the  death  of  his  only 
daughter,  he  wrote  for  the  Cornell  Review,  a  student 
publication,  an  article  on  “Modern  Spiritualism.”  To 
have  written  such  a  paper,  in  a  university  magazine,  at  a 
time  when  belief  in  such  a  faith  was,  with  the  public 
generally,  an  evidence  of  a  disordered  mind,  and  when 
it  might  be  distasteful  to  university  authorities  and 
hazard  a  teacher’s  position,  shows  his  independent  and 
fearless  spirit — the  same  spirit  which  has  now  prompted 
him  to  make  public  these  messages,  messages  of  so  inti- 


6 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


mate  and  personal  a  nature,  and  laying  bare  so  much  of 
the  privacy  of  the  home.  Very  few,  I  think,  would  be 
willing  to  do  this.  And  yet,  many  as  are  the  books  which 
he  has  written  and  published,  he  wrote  me,  after  he  had 
completed  this  work :  ‘  ‘  The  writing  of  this  book  has 
given  me  more  pleasure  than  the  writing  of  any  of  my 
other  books — and  I  am  prouder  of  it,  too.” 

Not  all  the  messages  received  by  him  through  Mrs. 
Soule  are  included  in  this  volume.  He  has  left  out  some 
which  seemed  to  me  of  greater  evidential  value.  He 
chose  them  as  he  would  have  chosen  selections  from 
literature  to  make  up  a  manual  for  reading,  on  account 
of  their  literary  form  and  their  thought  content.  Some 
he  omitted  because  they  appealed  less  keenly  to  his 
sense  of  love  and  devotion.  What  determined  his  choice 
was  what  he  esteemed  their  worth,  not  to  the  sceptic,  but 
to  the  believer.  Fully  convinced  himself  of  the  reality 
of  spirit  communication,  he  simply  would  share  the  mes¬ 
sages  which  seemed  to  him  best  worth  the  sharing. 

Certainly  no  such  collection  of  spirit  messages  has  ever 
been  published  before,  and  to  those  for  whom  they  are 
meant  they  will  as  certainly  have  their  worth. 

My  father  has  repeatedly  said  that  he  had  no  mission¬ 
ary  spirit.  But  this  was  true  only  in  a  measure.  As  a 
teacher,  while  he  may  not  have  been  eager  to  plant  new 
seed  in  new  soil,  his  zeal  in  the  cultivation  of  seed  already 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


7 


planted  was  very  great.  Perhaps  the  missionary  work  he 
did  accomplish,  as  teacher  and  as  writer,  was  the  greater 
for  his  unconsciousness  of  it.  So,  too,  this  book  may 
prove. 

Eugene  R.  Corson. 


There  is  no  death !  What  seems  so  is  transition. 

This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  Elysian, 

Whose  portal  we  call  Death. 

Longfellow. 

The  spirit-world  around  this  world  of  sense 
Floats  like  an  atmosphere,  and  everywhere 
Wafts  through  these  earthly  mists  and  vapours 
dense 

A  vital  breath  of  more  ethereal  air. 

Longfellow. 

Life  is  probation  and  the  earth  no  goal 
But  starting  point  of  man. 

Browning. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  conception  of  a  personal  God  as  a  great 
monarch  who  was  arbitrary  in  his  dispensations, 
and  who  had  to  be  appeased  by  burnt-offerings — 
the  victims  being,  sometimes,  human  beings — 
must  have  been  one  of  the  earliest  conceptions 
which  the  primitive  man  had  in  regard  to  a  con¬ 
trolling  power  of  the  world.  The  conception  un¬ 
derwent  modifications  as  man  progressed,  his  god 
being  made  more  or  less  in  the  image  of  himself. 
But  the  conception  of  a  supreme  outside  person¬ 
ality,  superintending  the  world,  in  a  human  sense, 
has  been  maintained  by  the  most  advanced  forms 
of  religion,  as  has  also  that  of  an  expiatory,  aton¬ 
ing  sacrifice.  The  latter,  in  the  Christian  religion, 
confined  to  one  victim,  is  a  doctrine  of  the  ‘  ‘  ortho¬ 
dox”  Church  of  to-day,  mainly  traceable  to  the 
Epistles  attributed  to  St.  Paul. 

St.  Paul  underwent  changes  in  his  attitude 
toward  Christianity.  At  one  time  he  made  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  (which,  as  he  expressed  it, 
abolished  death  and  brought  life  and  immortality 


6 


INTRODUCTION 


to  light),  the  all-important  fact — and  that  was  the 
attractive  one  to  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles  who  be¬ 
came  Christians.  He  finally  settled  upon  the  Cru¬ 
cifixion  as  the  cardinal  fact  on  which  all  else 
hinged,  determined,  as  he  says,  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  not  to  know  anything  among 
them  save  Christ  crucified,  identifying  the  cruci¬ 
fixion,  in  its  purpose,  with  the  Hebrew  expiatory 
sacrifice.  He  can  certainly  be  regarded  as  the 
author-in-cliief  of  Christian  theology,  as  his  final 
doctrine  of  an  atoning  sacrifice  has  been  main¬ 
tained  by  the  Church  to  the  present  time  as  the 
cardinal  one,  and  so  it  appears  in  the  hymns  of 
the  Church. 

In  Christian  art  the  crucifixion  was  long  a  chos¬ 
en  subject  with  the  greatest  artists;  and  the  cross 
has  ever  been  the  ensign  and  adopted  symbol  of 
Christianity. 

There  had  been  a  considerable  growth  of  theol¬ 
ogy  before  the  Gospels  were  written,  and  that 
growth  was  continued  in  them  and  can  be  traced 
through  the  four  Gospels.  Beginning  with  Mark, 
the  earliest  written,  we  see  an  advance  from  that 
Gospel  through  Matthew,  Luke,  and  John,  each 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


claiming  more  for  Christ’s  nature  and  power.  The 
Fourth  Gospel,  written  several  years,  no  doubt, 
after  the  Synoptics,  may  be  said  to  be  largely  built 
upon  the  Logos  idea  of  Philo  Judaeus — Jesus  is 
identified  with  the  Logos.  He  is  deified ;  at  least, 
made  superhuman.  He  is  altogether  a  different 
personality  from  the  Jesus  of  the  Synoptics. 

All  the  seven  miracles  in  this  Gospel  show  a 
magnifying  of  power  far  beyond  the  twenty  mir¬ 
acles  of  the  Synoptics.  The  turning  of  water  into 
wine  at  the  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee  (there 
being  six  waterpots  of  stone,  containing  two  or 
three  firkins  apiece,  filled  with  water  to  the  brim), 
the  giving  sight  to  a  man  who  had  been  born  blind, 
the  raising  of  Lazarus,  who  had  lain  in  the  grave 
four  days,  are  found  only  in  this  Gospel. 

The  miracles  were  written,  no  doubt,  to  serve 
an  apologetic,  that  is,  a  defensive,  purpose.  It 
does  not  appear  that  Jesus  attached  any  special 
importance  to  his  outward  acts.  He  made  spirit¬ 
ual  vitality  the  all  in  all,  the  inducing  of  which  was 
his  great  function.  It  is  the  burden  of  his  teach¬ 
ings  as  recorded  in  the  Gospels.  In  the  Fourth 
Gospel  he  stands  out  prominently,  almost  exclu- 


8 


INTRODUCTION 


sively,  as  the  giver  of  spiritual  life.  “I  am  come 
that  they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might 
have  it  more  abundantly.” — John  x.  10. 

No  dogmatism  is  ascribed  to  him  in  the  Gospels. 
Creeds  and  dogmas  were  imposed  on  Christianity 
by  the  unspritualized  intellect;  but  he  who  is 
spiritually  alive  is  a  Christian,  independent  of 
creeds,  dogmas,  and  all  other  religious  equipment. 

How  much  more  the  Church  would  have  realized 
essential  Christianity  if  it  could  have  escaped  the 
intolerant  dominancy  of  creeds  and  dogmas !  And 
but  for  creeds  and  dogmas,  the  darkest,  saddest 
pages  of  ecclesiastical  history  would  not  have  been 
written;  for  to  them  were  due,  through  several 
centuries,  the  torturings  and  burnings  of  heretics, 
many  of  them  the  greatest  and  best  men  of  their 
times,  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy,  and 
who  had,  no  doubt,  realized  essential  Christianity 
by  their  exceptional  spiritual  vitality  more  than 
their  inquisitors  and  persecutors. 

Furthermore,  the  Church  without  its  creeds 
and  dogmas  would  not  have  been,  for  centuries,  the 
great  obstacle  it  was  to  intellectual  enlightenment 
and  to  science  of  every  kind.  The  Italian  Curia 


INTRODUCTION 


9 


of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  still  doing  all  in 
its  power  to  oppose  scientific  investigation  and  ad¬ 
vanced  thought,  as  being  antagonistic  to  its  creeds, 
its  polity,  and  its  intellectual  despotism. 

Creeds  and  dogmas  naturally  lose  their  impor¬ 
tance  as  spiritual  vitality  advances.  “He  to  whom 
the  Eternal  Word  speaks,  is  set  free  from  many 
opinions.*  He  does  not  merely  have  opinions,  he 
has  some  knowledge  absolute,  subject  to  no  dis¬ 
pute,  which  is  of  more  worth  than  a  legion  of  opin¬ 
ions.  Multitudinous  opinions,  without  a  single 
ray  of  spirit-illumed  knowledge,  have  kept  the 
world  in  a  constant  state  of  antagonisms,  especial¬ 
ly  the  religious  world.  Disputandi  pruritus  ec- 
clesiarum  scabies  ** 

But  the  speaking  of  the  Eternal  Word  is  a  con¬ 
ditional  response  to  every  one’s  spiritual  vitality. 
The  Eternal  Word  does  not  speak  to  those  who 
are  not  spiritually  prepared  to  be  spoken  to. 
Spirit  to  spirit.  All  spirit  is  mutually  attractive. 

Christianity  was  certainly  always  potential  in 

*  “Cui  AEternum  Verbum  loquitur,  a  multis  opinionibus 
expeditin’. ”  De  Imitatione  Christi,  Lib.  I.  3. 

**  The  itch  of  disputation,  the  scab  of  the  churches. 


10 


INTRODUCTION 


man ;  hence  there  must  have  been  men  and  women, 
at  all  times,  who  had  that  degree  of  spiritual  vital¬ 
ity,  due  to  their  coming  into  the  world  with  bodies 
exceptionally  favorable  to  that  vitality,  which 
made  them  nameless  Christians  ages  before 
Christ.  I  shall  speak  further  on  of  inherited 
physical  bodies,  as  favorable  or  unfavorable  to 
spiritual  vitality. 

That  Christianity  existed  before  Christ,  was  the 
opinion  of  Saint  Augustine,  expressed  in  his  De 
Vera  Religione,  written  early  in  the  fifth  century 
— an  opinion  which  he  had  to  retract,  the  Church 
claiming  that  man  was  newly  inoculated,  so  to 
speak,  with  the  eternal  life  offered  by  the  Christ. 
(The  words  ‘eternal’  and  ‘everlasting’,  so  fre¬ 
quently  applied  to  ‘life’  in  the  Gospels  and  Epis¬ 
tles,  have  reference  to  the  kind  of  life  rather  than 
merely  to  its  endlessness.  They  are  used  as  syno¬ 
nymous  with  ‘spiritual,’  spirit  being  in  its  nature 
eternal.  In  this  sense  the  eternal  life  may  be  rea¬ 
lized  in  this  world.) 

Augustine  says :  ‘  ‘  For  the  thing  itself  which  is 
now  called  the  Christian  religion,  was  with  the 
ancients,  nor  was  it  absent  from  the  beginning  of 


INTRODUCTION 


11 


the  human  race,  until  Christ  himself  came  in  the 
flesh,  whence  the  true  religion  which  already  was, 
began  to  be  called  Christian.  For  when,  after  the 
resurrection  and  ascension  into  heaven,  the  Apos¬ 
tles  had  begun  to  preach  him,  and  very  many  be¬ 
lieved,  first  at  Antioch,  as  it  is  written,  disciples 
were  called  Christians  (Acts  xi.  26).  Therefore 
I  have  said,  this  is,  in  our  times,  the  Christian  re¬ 
ligion;  not  because  it  was  not  in  former  times,  but 
because  in  after  times  it  received  this  name.”  * 

All  religions  have  been  characterized  by  impreg¬ 
nable  conservatism  and  intolerance  of  what  was 
regarded  as  heretical.  No  power  has  been  more 
despotic  than  organized  religious  power.  This  has 


*  ‘Nam  res  ipsa  quae  nunc  Christiana  religio  nuncupatur, 
erat  apud  antiquos,  nec  defuit  ab  initio  generis  humani, 
quousque  ipse  Christus  veniret  in  carne,  unde  vera  religio 
quae  jam  erat,  ccepit  appellari  Christiana.  Cum  enim  eum  post 
resurrectionem  ascensionemque  in  coelum  coepissent  Apos- 
toli  praedicare,  et  plurimi  crederent,  primum  apud  Antio- 
cham,  sicut  scriptum  est,  appellati  sunt  discipuli  Christiani 
(Act.  xi.  26).  Propterea  dixi,  haec  est  nostris  temporibus 
Christiana  religio;  non  quia  prioribus  temporitus  non  fuit, 
sed  quia  posterioribus  hoc  nomen  accepit.’  Liber  I,  cap.  xiii,  ‘S. 
Aurelii  Augustini  Hipponensis  Episcopi  Retractationum  Libri 
duo.’ 


12 


INTRODUCTION 


been  true  of  every  form  of  religion  of  which  there 
is  any  record.  The  divine  faculties  of  man,  to 
quicken  which  should  have  been  their  chief  objects, 
have  been  paralyzed  by  priesthoods  for  thousands 
of  years.  The  conservatism  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  the  dire  consequences  of  non-confor¬ 
mity  thereto,  were  a  great  obstacle,  as  I  have  said, 
to  the  progress  of  Science  through  several  centur¬ 
ies.  But  the  time  has  quite  gone  by  when  scien¬ 
tists  feared  to  tread  on  religious  ground,  which 
all  through  the  centuries  was  regarded  as  con¬ 
secrated,  and  from  which  the  foot  of  the  investiga¬ 
tor  was  excluded.  The  Curia  of  the  Roman  Catho¬ 
lic  Church,  however,  continues  to  make  opposition 
to  what  it  calls  ‘Modernism,’  and,  mirable  dictu, 
imposes  restrictions  upon  scientific  professors  in 
its  Seminaries,  yet  at  the  same  time  makes  use  of 
the  wonderful  applications  of  science  to  human 
life,  without  acknowledging  any  indebtedness 
thereto. 

Science  has  led  to  an  extended  belief  in  the  uni¬ 
versal  immanence  of  an  informing,  life-giving,  im¬ 
personal  spirit,  infinitely  spontaneous  in  its  ac¬ 
tion  throughout  the  material  universe  (with  its 


INTRODUCTION 


13 


countless  millions  of  orbs,  others  being  still  in 
course  of  spontaneous  formation),  by  virtue  of 
which  immanence,  the  universe  is  automatic  in 
its  action.  There  is  no  evidence  whatever  of  any 
outside  arbitrary  management,  in  a  human  sense, 
nor  of  any  direct  special  act  of  a  personal  God. 
There  are  personal  agencies,  in  the  form  of  ad¬ 
vanced  human  spirits,  which  are  ever  exerting  a 
saving  power  in  this  world — a  power,  however, 
which  is  conditional  with  those  who  are  suscepti¬ 
ble  to  it  through  their  spiritual  vitality.  See  the 
first  of  the  spirit  messages  given  in  this  book. 

Of  this  universal,  spontaneously  formative 
spirit,  all  individualized  forms  of  life  partake; 
they  are  inherent,  potential  in  it,  and  have  been  re¬ 
alized  whenever  conditions  have  been  favorable 
for  the  appearance  of  any  of  them.  But  it  will  be 
long  before  the  general  religious  mind  can  be  dis¬ 
possessed  of  the  idea  of  an  outward,  omnipresent, 
consciously  superintending  power  and  it  may  be 
well  that  this  idea  be  maintained  by  many  minds. 

Included  in  the  automatic  action  of  the  universe, 
are  all  rewards  and  punishments,  which  accord¬ 
ingly  take  care  of  themselves;  and  all  classifies- 


14 


INTRODUCTION 


tions  in  the  spirit  world,  unlike  the  more  or  less 
arbitrary  ones  in  this  world,  likewise  take  care  of 
themselves,  and  they  are  numberless.  See  mes¬ 
sages  dated  Sept.  14. 

A  not  uncommon  religions  belief,  but  less  com¬ 
mon  at  present,  I  trust,  through  the  influence  of 
Spiritualism,  is  that  there  are  only  two  distinct 
classes  in  the  spirit  world,  the  ‘saved’  and  the 
‘lost’,  and  that  the  condition  of  each  class  is  per¬ 
manent.  Spiritualism  teaches  a  better  doctrine, 
and  so  does  common  sense. 

There  are  many  good  people  who  believe  heaven 
to  be  a  state  of  perfect  bliss !  Oh,  to  be  in  such  a 
stereotyped  state,  if  it  were  possible  in  the  nature 
of  things,  who  could  reasonably  desire?  Eternal 
activity  and  progress  must  be  the  desire  of  every 
rational  soul. 

Tennyson  says  of  Virtue,  in  his  beautiful  little 
poem  entitled  ‘Wages’: 

‘  ‘  Glory  of  Virtue,  to  fight,  to  struggle,  to  right  the 
wrong — 

Nay,  but  she  aim’d  not  at  glory,  no  lover  of  glory 
she : 

Give  her  the  glory  of  going  on,  and  still  to  be. 


INTR  OD  UCTION 


15 


She  desires  no  isles  of  the  blest,  no  quiet  seats  of 
the  just, 

To  rest  in  a  golden  grove,  or  to  bask  in  a  summer 
sky: 

Give  her  the  wages  of  going  on,  and  not  to  die.” 

It  may  be  (this  is  only  a  surmise,  it  could  not 
be  anything  else)  that  the  indwelling  universal 
spirit,  the  ultimate  substance,  comes  to  conscious¬ 
ness  only  through  the  individualizations  of  itself, 
and  is  constantly  and  forever  passing  into  num¬ 
berless  millions  of  consciousnesses  of  incarnate 
beings;  and  there  are  numberless  millions  of  con¬ 
sciousnesses  of  excarnate  human  beings  in  the 
spirit  world. 

If  the  unconsciousness  of  the  universal  spirit 
could  be  proved  (it  cannot  be,  nor  yet  disproved) 
the  question  would  arise  in  numberless  minds, 
what  object  of  religious  devotion  is  left  for  us  I  It 
could  be  answered :  Man  has  the  whole  awful  liv¬ 
ing  universe  as  the  object  of  his  religious  devo¬ 
tion.  As  an  inseparable  part  of  it,  he  should  at¬ 
tain  to  that  degree  of  spiritual  vitality  which  his 
fealty  to  the  whole  demands.  His  sense  of  one¬ 
ness  would,  of  itself,  be  devotion,  for  it  would  im- 


16 


INTR  OD  UCTION 


ply  a  fulness  of  spiritual  vitality  of  which  devo¬ 
tion  is  the  spontaneous  result.  For  spiritual  vi¬ 
tality  must  radiate  and  respond  to  the  spiritual 
outside  of  itself.  So  that  he  who  can  attain  to  this 
sense  of  oneness,  is  truly  ‘filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost.’ 

Quickened  as  the  universe  is  throughout  its 
whole  extent  by  the  indwelling  spirit,  it  has,  and 
must  have,  one  and  the  same  life ;  and  every  man 
has  that  within  him  which,  when  adequately  quick¬ 
ened,  responds  to  and  claims  kindred  with  this  life, 
and  is  at  home  with  it,  and  is  thus  assured  that  the 
life  of  the  universe  is  spirit  of  which  he  himself 
partakes. 

Religion  and  worship  would  be  wholly  factitious 
if  the  human  spirit  and  the  universal  spirit  were 
not  one  and  the  same  and  mutually  attractive.  The 
distinction  which  has  been  made  between  the  hu¬ 
man  and  the  divine  is  baseless.  The  more  one  ad¬ 
vances  in  responsiveness,  the  more  spontaneous 
he  is,  and  the  more  he  thus  becomes  a  law  to  him¬ 
self.  This  is  to  advance  to  true  freedom,  to  know¬ 
ledge  absolute  subject  to  no  dispute — the  know¬ 
ledge  of  spiritual  consciousness ,  which  is  of  a  high- 


INTRODUCTION 


17 


er  order  of  knowledge  than  the  knowledge  of  phe¬ 
nomena  (appearances)  of  which  the  senses  take 
account.  The  spontaneous,  even  unconscious  re¬ 
sponse  of  man's  spirit  to  the  universal  spirit  is 
what  his  love  of  God  should  mean,  as  it  does  so 
mean;  that  is  ‘walking  with  God’  in  the  highest 
sense. 

To  the  degree  that  one  is  in  harmony  with  the 
spiritual  constitution  of  the  universe,  to  that  de¬ 
gree  will  he  be  spontaneously  religious.  All  great 
creative  poets,  more  than  men  in  general,  have  a 
sense  of  their  kinship  with  the  universal  spirit 
by  reason  of  their  exceptional  spiritual  vitality: 
they  are  born  pantheists.  Wordsworth  certainly 
was,  and  so,  too,  was  Tennyson— witness  ‘The 
Higher  Pantheism,’  ‘Flower  in  the  Crannied 
Wall,’  ‘The  Ancient  Sage,’  etc.;  and  so  was  Walt 
Whitman,  who  was  a  great  cosmic  genius,  with  a 
dee])  cosmic  consciousness.  All  the  higher  poetry 
is  a  revelation  of  this  sense  of  kinship. 

Mankind  have,  more  or  less,  a  love  of  nature, 
which  really  means  a  spontaneous,  an  unconscious 
response,  however  slight  that  may  be,  to  the  in- 

3 


18 


INTRODUCTION 


dwelling  spirit.  An  insensibility  to  the  charms  of 
nature  would  indicate  spiritual  atrophy. 

Blessed  is  he  who  has  “spirit-gifted  eyes ; 

Doubt  not  but  he  holds  in  view 

A  new  earth  and  heaven  new.” 

Our  institutions  of  learning  should  do  more  for 
spiritual  education,  independently  of  what  is  gen¬ 
erally  understood  to  be  such  an  education,  namely, 
an  initiation  into  a  system  of  creeds,  dogmas,  etc., 
as  the  necessary  equipment  for  life’s  voyage.  The 
intellect  and  the  memory  are  almost  exclusively 
exercised.  The  function  of  the  higher  literature, 
especially  poetic  and  dramatic  literature,  is  to 
bring  into  play  the  spiritual  nature  along  with 
the  intellectual,  for  literature  proper  is  spiritualiz¬ 
ed  thought,  artistically  expressed,  as  distinguish¬ 
ed  from  abstract  thought,  but  it  is  not  generally 
studied  in  the  schools  in  a  way  to  realize  its  true 
function.  It  is  too  frequently  made  a  mere  know¬ 
ledge  subject.  Too  much  scholarship  is  mixed  up 
with  and  intruded  upon  the  study,  so  that  a  work 
of  genius  is  not  allowed  to  make  its  own  indepen¬ 
dent  spiritual  impression,  which  would  certainly 


INTRODUCTION 


19 


interest  most  students  more  than  unnecessarily 
obtruded  scholarship. 

Now  in  what  does  a  true  spiritual  education  con¬ 
sist?  Its  source  is  indicated  in  the  following  pas¬ 
sage  from  Browning’s  ‘Paracelsus’: 

‘There  is  an  inmost  centre  in  us  all 
Where  truth  abides  in  fulness;  and  around, 
Wall  upon  wall,  the  gross  flesh  hems  it  in, 

This  perfect  clear  perception — which  is  truth; 

A  baffling  and  perverting  carnal  mesh 
Blinds  it  and  makes  all  error;  and  to  know 
Rather  consists  in  opening  out  a  way 
Whence  the  imprisoned  splendor  may  escape, 
Than  in  effecting  entry  for  a  light 
Supposed  to  be  without.’ 

No  Lockian  doctrine,  this,  of  a  tabula  rasa,  and 
of  sensations  transformed  into  ideas.  By  ‘truth,’ 
in  this  passage,  is  meant  absolute,  eternal  truth, 
the  truth  which  ‘makes  free,’  gives  freedom  to  the 
spiritual  nature,  which  is  more  or  less  in  bondage 
in  the  physical  body.  The  interior  man  is  indepen¬ 
dent  of  outward  experiences  in  regard  to  absolute 
truth. 

There  is  comparatively  but  a  small  part  of  us 


20 


INTRODUCTION 


which  comes  to  consciousness  in  this  life,  however 
much  we  may  be  educated,  in  the  common  accepta¬ 
tion  of  that  word,  and  however  extended  our  out¬ 
ward  and  our  inward  experiences  may  be.  Back 
of  our  conscious  and  active  powers,  is  a  vast  and 
mysterious  domain  of  unconsciousness — but  a  do¬ 
main  which  is,  nevertheless,  our  true  being,  and 
which  is  more  or  less,  according  to  the  degree  of 
our  rectified  attitudes,  unceasingly  influencing  our 
conscious  and  active  powers,  and  more  or  less  de¬ 
termining  us  to  act  according  to  absolute  stand¬ 
ards,  rather  than  to  relative  and  expedient  stand¬ 
ards. 

All  great  natures  (great  by  reason  of  their  ex¬ 
ceptional  spiritual  vitality  in  cooperation  with 
their  intellects,  such  cooperation  constituting  real 
personality),  must  be  more  or  less  aware  of  this 
inward  source,  and  have,  in  consequence,  less  re¬ 
gard  for  outward  authority  in  spiritual  matters. 
They  have  that  within  which  tests  outward  author¬ 
ity,  be  it  in  a  book  regarded  as  inspired,  or  from 
any  other  source. 

I  shall  speak  of  what  is  called  in  the  passage 
from  ‘Paracelsus/  ‘an  inmost  centre  in  us  all 


INTRODUCTION 


21 


where  truth  abides  in  fulness,’  as  ‘the  unconscious 
self.’  The  conscious  self,  in  this  life,  in  whatever 
degree  it  may  be  widened  and  deepened,  must  be 
very  limited  in  comparison  with  the  potential  con¬ 
sciousness  and  faculty  within  us,  which  a  future 
life  will  realize. 

Jesus  regarded  all  men  and  women  as  the 
‘Word  made  flesh,’  the  kingdom  of  God  being,  as 
he  said,  within  them ;  but  the  Word  is  more  or  less 
deeply  buried  and  it  was  his  special  mission  to  re¬ 
surrect  it.  ‘I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life’ 
(that  is,  I,  a  resurrected  spirit,  resurrect  the  bur¬ 
ied  spirits  of  men,  and  thus  give  them  spiritual 
life)  he  is  represented  as  saying  to  Martha  who 
had  expressed  to  him,  in  regard  to  her  brother,  the 
prevailing  belief  (especially  of  the  Pharisees,  de¬ 
rived  from  the  Chaldeans,  during  the  Captivity) 
in  a  general  resurrection  of  buried  bodies  at  the 
last  day. 

There  is  no  resurrection  of  buried  bodies ;  but  at 
physical  death,  the  spirit  body  is  resurrected,  or 
rises  out  of  the  physical  body.  It  is  the  spirit  body 
which  maintains  the  individual  existence  of  the 
spirit  after  physical  death. 


22 


INTRODUCTION 


It  is  what  a  man  draws  from  his  unconscious 
self  that  is  of  prime  importance  in  his  true  educa¬ 
tion  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word,  not  what  is 
put  into  him.  But  in  our  system  of  so-called  edu¬ 
cation  it  is  all  putting  in,  not  drawing  out. 

There  are  uprisings,  at  rare  times,  it  may  be, 
from  our  unconscious  selves  which  cause  us  to 
‘feel  that  we  are  greater  than  we  know.’  Walt 
Whitman  asks,  in  his  ‘Leaves  of  Grass,’ 

‘  Has  never  come  to  thee  an  hour, 

A  sudden  gleam  divine,  precipitating,  burst¬ 
ing  all  these  bubbles,  fashions,  wealth? 

These  eager  business  aims — books,  politics, 
art,  amours, 

To  utter  nothingness?’ 


What  an  assurance  such  an  hour  gives  of  hid¬ 
den  greatness,  when  ‘the  mortal  limit  of  the  self 
is  loosed’ ! 

Such  uprisings  from  the  sub-self  more  or  less 
subside;  but  the  more  frequent  they  become,  by 
reason  of  an  advance  in  spiritual  vitality,  the  less 
are  their  subsidences,  the  uprisings  becoming  more 


INTRODUCTION 


23 


and  more  a  part  of  our  permanent  conscious 
selves,  and  attaining  more  and  more  to  oneness 
with  absolute  being. 

The  sympathetic,  assimilative  reading  of  great 
poets  is  among  the  efficient  means  of  inducing 
these  uprisings — sympathetic  assimilative  read¬ 
ing,  not  the  study  of  them  as  pursued  in  the 
schools.  The  exclusive  intellectual  attitude,  so 
generally  taken,  shuts  off  the  spiritual  element 
which  is  the  true  educating  life  of  poetry,  and  de¬ 
mands  a  spiritual  response,  spirit  to  spirit.  These 
uprisings  give  us  intimations  of  immortality  more 
evidential  and  assuring  than  can  be  derived  from 
all  merely  intellectual  ‘evidences’.  The  subject  of 
immortality  is  not,  in  fact,  within  the  domain  of 
the  discursive  intellect. 

An  indispensable  requisite  of  a  teacher  of  liter¬ 
ature  is  a  highly  cultivated  voice,  a  voice,  too, 
whose  intonation  (the  choral  part  of  an  interpre¬ 
tative  voice)  should  be  such  as  to  evoke  a  response 
of  his  students  to  the  spiritual  element  of  the 
poem  he  is  reading,  along  with  the  articulating 
thought  which  is  received  by  their  intellects.  Ab¬ 
stract  thought  does  not  require  to  be  vocally  in- 


24 


INTRODUCTION 


terpreted.  It  can  be  got  through  the  eye.  If  it 
be  read  aloud,  with  proper  grouping  of  the  sec¬ 
tions  of  sentences,  any  ordinary  voice  would  serve. 
Students’  voices  should  be  cultivated,  and  they 
should  read  much  poetry  aloud.  The  language  of 
the  higher  poetry  is  more  spiritualized  than  that 
of  the  drama. 

Wordless  prayer  (better  than  prayer  of  set 
words,  which  may  become  mechanical  by  being 
frequently  repeated),  the  soul’s  ardent,  aspiring 
desire,  spontaneously  exhaled,  tends  to  arouse  the 
unconscious  self.  Such  prayer,  without  ceasing, 
is  possible — a  prayerful  state  of  soul — but  that  is 
not  easily  attained  to  in  this  soul  distracting 
world,  ‘dark  with  griefs  and  graves’ — not  graves 
of  graveyards,  but  graves  within  men,  in  which 
their  spiritual  natures  are  buried — a  world  which, 
at  present,  sadly  needs  the  rest  offered  by  the 
great  Rest-giver  to  those  who  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden;  a  rest  that  is  not  the  absence  of  activity, 
but  a  spontaneous,  unimpeded  activity  of  the  spir¬ 
itual  nature;  an  activity  derived  from  the  Univer¬ 
sal  Spirit,  the  tireless  motive  power  of  the  uni¬ 
verse — a  most  busy  rest,  the  rest  of  Peace. 


INTRODUCTION 


25 


The  earnest  and  experienced  Spiritualist  has  an 
exceptional  assurance,  rather  than  a  mere  belief, 
that  he  is  ‘compassed  about  with  so  great  a  crowd 
of  witnesses;’  and  his  assurance  must  much  deter¬ 
mine  the  upright  character  of  his  life,  knowing, 
as  he  does,  that  the  good  spiritual  influence  of 
these  witnesses  depends  upon  his  soul’s  ardent,  as¬ 
piring  desire  of  righteousness,  independently  of 
any  prayer  of  set  words.  Every  one  is  responsi¬ 
ble,  he  knows,  for  the  kind  of  spiritual  company  he 
keeps,  and  his  desire  is,  therefore,  for  good  com¬ 
pany. 

The  infinite  degrees  of  manifestation  of  the  Uni¬ 
versal  Spirit  are  determined  by  the  infinite  modes 
of  its  embodiment,  conscious  and  unconscious, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest,  from  vegetable 
forms  up  through  all  forms  of  animal  life  to  the 
human  body.  All  spirit  is  a  unity,  and  its  mani¬ 
festation  depends  upon  the  kind  of  embodiment. 
The  highest  form  which  has  been  evolved  on  this 
planet,  and  in  which  the  universal  Spirit  can  have 
the  highest  manifestation,  is  the  human  body ;  and 
this  ‘fearfully  and  wonderfully  made’  organ  of 
the  spirit  also  presents  its  obstructions  to  the  ac- 


26' 


INTRODUCTION 


tion  of  the  spirit ;  but  it  may  be  rendered  less  ob¬ 
structive  according  as  one  advances  in  spiritual 
vitality.  Browning  has  characterized  this  obstruc¬ 
tion  as 


‘Some  slight  film, 

The  interposing  bar  which  binds  a  soul, 

And  makes  the  idiot,  just  as  makes  the  sage 
Some  film  removed.  ’ 

As  the  spirit  advances  in  freedom,  the  spirit 
body,  which  is  already  in  the  physical  body,  being 
formed  in  the  womb  (the  physical  body  being  a 
materialization  of  it),  is  refined,  and  spiritualizes 
the  physical  body,  and  may  even  contribute  to  its 
longevity.  It  is  composed,  as  I  have  been  inform¬ 
ed  by  my  spirit  friends,  of  primordial,  ultimately 
refined  matter,  which  is  permeated,  in  earth  life, 
by  matter  of  a  lower  order.  This  latter  is  reduced 
in  this  world  by  a  spiritual  life,  and  the  refinement 
■of  the  spirit  body  will  be  continued  in  the  future 
life  by  the  spirit’s  progress,  which  progress  means 
an  increase  in  its  freedom,  and  only  that,  due  to 
the  increased  refinement  of  its  embodiment.  Spirit 
itself,  being  the  ultimate  substance,  (essence)  can¬ 
not  be  evolved. 


INTRODUCTION 


27 


4 4  So  every  spirit,  as  it  is  most  pure, 

And  hath  in  it  the  more  of  heavenly  light, 

So  it  the  fairer  body  doth  procure 
To  habit  in,  and  it  more  fairly  dight 
With  cheerful  grace  and  amiable  sight; 

For  of  the  soul  the  body  form  doth  take; 

For  soul  is  form,  and  doth  the  body  make.” 

It  should  be  added  that  as  the  spirit  body  ad¬ 
vances  in  refinement,  it  advances  in  vibrations, 
and  passes  accordingly  to  spheres  in  the  spirit 
world  of  higher  vibrations.  That’s  the  real  mean¬ 
ing  of  progress  in  the  spirit  world.  Undeveloped 
spirits  cannot  bear  the  vibrations  of  spheres  high¬ 
er  than  their  own;  but  advanced  spirits  can  de¬ 
scend  through  the  lower  spheres  and  into  earth’s 
atmosphere  where  they  can  remain,  at  the  longest, 
only  two  or  three  hours.  The  spirits  of  my  Band 
have  so  informed  me. 

Materialistic  phycliology  (a  contradiction  in  the 
adjective)  carries  materialism  to  an  extreme  by 
wildly  regarding  consciousness  as  due  to,  and  end¬ 
ing  with,  the  dissolution  of  the  mortal  physical  or¬ 
ganism. 

Embodiment  is,  indeed,  a  condition  of  conscious- 


28 


INTRODUCTION 


ness;  and  if  the  spirit  had  not  an  embodiment  in¬ 
dependently  of  the  physical  body,  consciousness 
would  terminate  with  physical  death.  But  there 
is  a  natural  body  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body 
within  the  natural  body  (the  latter  being,  indeed, 
a  materialization  of  the  former) ;  and  the  spirit¬ 
ual  body  maintains  the  individual  existence  of 
the  spirit  after  physical  death. 

The  spirit  body  as  an  organism  independent  of 
the  physical  body,  has  been  as  fully  proved  by 
Spiritualism  as  any  established  scientific  fact  has 
been  proved. 

My  friend  and  former  colleague,  Dr.  Schiller, 
of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford,  truly  says: 
“Matter  is  not  that  which  produces  consciousness, 
but  that  which  limits  it;  material  organization 
does  not  construct  consciousness  out  of  arrange¬ 
ments  of  atoms,  but  contracts  its  manifestation 
within  the  sphere  which  it  permits.  ’  ’ 

As  I  have  stated  in  other  words,  the  action  of 
the  spirit  is  more  or  less  conditioned  by  the  phy¬ 
sical  body,  which  has  as  many  degrees  of  fitness 
or  unfitness  for  the  action  of  the  spirit  as  there 
are  human  beings  on  this  planet.  In  one  body  the 


INTRODUCTION 


29 


spirit  may  have  a  very  exceptional  freedom  of  ac¬ 
tion,  and  the  result  may  be  what  is  called  a  genius. 
Another  body,  instead  of  being,  so  to  speak,  a 
roomy  and  pleasant  abode  of  the  spirit,  may  be  a 
Bastile  dungeon,  and  the  result  may  be  what  is 
called  an  idiot.  But  the  spirit,  in  its  essential,  un¬ 
changeable  nature,  is  the  same  in  all  bodies. 

What  is  called  heredity  has  an  entirely  physical 
basis.  So  parents  may  transmit  more  or  less 
bondage,  or  more  or  less  freedom,  of  spirit  to 
their  offspring.  One  may  improve  his  physical 
body  as  an  organ  of  the  spirit,  and  another  may 
so  impair  his  body  as  to  make  it  more  of  a  prison 
for  the  spirit. 

Bondage  of  spirit  is  what  is  properly  meant 
by  the  (falsely-called)  depravity  of  spirit.  Total 
depravity  is  one  of  the  five  points  of  Calvinism. 
There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  total  depravity  in 
the  whole  universe  of  mind  and  matter.  It  is  one 
of  the  monstrous  absurdities  of  theology.  Spirit 
itself  cannot  be  actually  depraved:  it  is  the  same 
in  the  saint  and  the  sinner:  it  is  one  with  the  Uni¬ 
versal  Spirit.  When  the  spirit  is  in  a  state  of  bond- 


30 


INTRODUCTION 


age  the  animal  nature  is  in  control ;  the  senses  are 
unchecked  in  their  rule. 

What  is  called  sin  (which  theologians  have  re¬ 
garded  as  an  entity  introduced  into  the  human 
system  by  Adam  and  Eve’s  eating  the  fruit  of  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  a  Babylonian 
myth  long  earlier  than  the  old  Book  of  Genesis!) 
means  simply  imperfect  realization,  or  non-reali¬ 
zation  of  the  spiritual  nature — a  negation,  not  an 
entity — and  has  always  existed  and  always  will 
exist,  in  the  very  nature  of  things.  It  is  no  prob¬ 
lem  at  all,  but  an  imposition  of  the  mind  upon  it¬ 
self.  In  the  sense  of  imperfect  realization  it  may 
be  said  to  exist  in  the  whole  vegetable  and  ani¬ 
mal  world.  There  is  no  form  of  life,  animal  or 
vegetable,  that  realizes  all  that  is  potential  in  it. 
All  forms  of  life  are  subject  to  separable  accident, 
to  that  which  does  not  essentially  belong  to  them. 
Various  forms  of  life  existing  together,  necessar¬ 
ily  interfere  with  each  other  and  are  mutual  ob¬ 
stacles,  along  with  numerous  others,  to  the  full 
realization  of  what  is  potential  in  them.  Horti¬ 
culturists,  pomologists,  and  agriculturists  of  the 
present  day  are  doing  what  may  be  called  mission- 


INTRODUCTION 


31 


ary  work  among  flowers  and  fruits  and  all  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  the  fields,  by  freeing  them  from  their 
separable  accidents.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  scientific  improvement  of  all  domestic  ani¬ 
mals.  Animals  in  a  wild  state  realize  more  of 
themselves,  perhaps,  than  domestic  animals. 

Evolution,  which  has  been  going  on  forever 
throughout  the  Universe,  implies,  of  course,  invo¬ 
lution,  and  the  latter  means  non-realization. 

If  the  intellectual  and  the  spiritual  nature  of 
man  were  largely  and  coordinately  developed 
(that  would  be  geniusward),  his  sense  of  the  one¬ 
ness  of  all  things  would  keep  pace  with  that  de¬ 
velopment.  It  may  be  that  some  have  attained 
to  such  a  difficult  co-ordination,  and  have  conse¬ 
quently  experienced  what  is  said  in  the  Hindu 
Upanishads : 

‘They  that  see  the  Real  in  the  midst  of  this  Un¬ 
real,  they  that  behold  life  in  the  midst  of  this 
death,  they  that  know  the  One  in  all  the  changing 
manifoldness  of  this  universe,  unto  them  belongs 
eternal  peace — unto  none  else,  unto  none  else.’ 

And  so  in  the  De  Imitatione  Christi:  ‘He  to 
whom  all  things  are  one,  and  who  draws  all  things 


32 


INTRODUCTION 


to  one,  and  sees  all  tilings  in  one,  is  able  to  be  sta¬ 
ble  in  heart  and  to  remain  at  peace  in  Giod.  ’  * 

They  have  a  quickened  divine  instinct.  When 
such  a  state  is  reached,  or  even  when  it  is  ap¬ 
proached,  mere  opinions,  creeds,  and  dogmas  in 
religion,  give  place  to  it.  The  Eternal  Word,  that 
is,  the  universal  divine  manifestation,  has  spoken 
to  him  who  has  reached  or  approached  this  state. 
The  Eternal  Word  is  ready  to  speak  to  every 
one,  but  not  every  one  is  prepared  to  be  spoken  to. 
Such  preparation  should  be  the  prime  aim  and 
end  of  education,  worthy  of  the  name,  not  merely 
the  sharpening  of  the  insulated  intellect.  ‘The 
blindness  of  the  intellect  begins,’  says  Emerson, 
’when  it  would  be  something  of  itself.  ’ 

A  university  professor  who  is  merely  a  good 
teacher,  as  distinguished  from  an  inspiring  edu¬ 
cator,  may  grow  dim  in  the  memories  of  some  of 
liis  students,  in  after  years.  But  if  one  who  is  an 
inspiring  educator  makes  a  contribution,  so  to 
speak,  to  a  student’s  conscious  being,  due  to  open- 

*  ‘Cui  omnia  unum  sunt,  et  qui  omnia  ad  unum  trahit,  et 
ommia  in  uno  videt,  potest  stabilis  corde  esse  et  in  Deo  paci- 
ficus  permanere.’  Lib.  I  cap.  III. 


INTRODUCTION 


33 


ing  out  a  way  by  which  some  of  his  unconscious 
self  is  brought  to  consciousness,  that  student  will 
hold  him  to  his  dying  day  in  grateful  remem¬ 
brance.  This  is  one  evidence  that  a  widening  and 
deepening  of  the  conscious  self  is  more  satisfying 
to  the  soul  than  the  mere  acquisition  of  objective 
knowledge,  however  extensive  that  may  be.  The 
latter  is  not  so  life-giving  as  the  former. 

A  fulness  of  cooperative  intellectual  and  spirit¬ 
ual  life  is  the  greatest  of  earthly  attainments ;  and 
he  is  the  completest  man  who  realizes  it.  A  great 
dominaney  of  either  makes  life  a  lopsided  voyage. 

Grateful  beyond  expression  would  be  every  stu¬ 
dent  who  could  say  to  a  former  teacher  as  Dante, 
in  the  Divina  Commedia  represents  himself  as 
saying  to  his  teacher,  Brunetto  Latini,  ‘M’insegna- 
vate  Come  1’  uom  S’  eterna,  (You  taught  me  how 
man  eternalizes  himself),  that  is,  attains  to  eternal 
life,  or  the  life  of  the  spirit,  as  eternal  life  always 
means  in  the  Gospels.  But,  unfortunately,  there 
are  not  legions  of  resurrecting  teachers.  Some 
only  bury  deeper  the  spirits  of  their  students,  by 
an  excessive  stuffing  of  them  with  all  kinds  of 


4 


34 


INTRODUCTION 


temporal  knowledge,  and  by  exercising  only  their 
intellects  and  memories. 

It  should  be  the  main  function  of  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  to  induce  conversion  in  their  hearers 
rather  than  learnedly  to  expound  texts  from  the 
Scriptures.  Such  function  requires  that  the 
preacher  be  an  inspiring  personality,  that  is,  one  in 
whom  the  spiritual  nature  is  highly  quickened 
and  ever  cooperates  with  the  intellectual.  Such 
a  one  lias  a  converting  power.  Clergymen,  too, 
should  have  inspiring  voices,  exhibiting  their  spir¬ 
itual  vitality;  should  have  what  Walt  Whitman,  in 
his  poem  entitled  ‘Vocalism,’  calls  ‘the  divine 
power  to  speak  words,’  ‘to  bring  forth  what  lies 
slumbering  forever  ready  in  all  words.’  But  this 
‘divine  power’  is  not  developed  as  it  should  be, 
in  theological  schools.  It  would  be  more  correct, 
perhaps,  to  say  that  it  is  not  developed  at  all. 

In  the  4tli  chapter  of  Luke,  it  appears  that 
Jesus  must  have  had  ‘the  divine  power  to  speak 
words.’  After  his  reading  from  the  book  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah  what  is  given  in  the  18th  a^id  19th 
verses,  beginning  ‘The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
me,’  we  are  told  that  the  eyes  of  all  in  the  syna- 


INTRODUCTION 


35 


gogue  were  fastened  on  him.  I  fancy  that  this  fix¬ 
edness  of  attention  on  the  part  of  his  hearers  was 
due  to  the  intonation  of  his  voice  which  enveloped 
what  he  read  in  an  electric  aura.  The  whole  de¬ 
scription  is  beautiful  and  dramatic. 

To  return  to  the  subject  of  conversion:  what, 
indeed,  is  conversion?  It  is  more  than  a  convic¬ 
tion  of  sin,  and  a  confession  of  belief  in  the  creeds 
and  dogmas  of  a  church.  Belief,  of  itself,  in  spiri- 
ual  truths,  avails  little  or  nothing,  without  a  reali¬ 
zation  of  them.  It  may  be  a  purely  intellectual  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  them.  The  Greek  word  translated 
‘believe,’  in  the  Gospel  ( vno-Teveiv) ,  means  other 
than  that;  it  means,  to  give  a  spiritual  response 
to.  The  noun  form,  7 T(aT^ ,  is  used  sometimes  as 
quite  synonymous  with  ayaTrrj ,  love,  a  responsive 
outgoing  of  the  spirit. 

There’s  a  beautiful  example  of  conversion  in 
the  monologue  of  the  Canon  Caponsachi,  in 
Browning’s  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  wherein  the 
canon  sets  forth  to  the  judges  the  circumstances 
under «which  his  soul  was  set  revolving  in  a  new 
orbit,  after  a  life  of  dalliance  and  elegant  folly, 
and  made  aware  of  the  marvelous  dower  of  the 


36 


INTRODUCTION 


life  it  was  gifted  and  filled  with.  The  passage  is 
one  of  the  greatest  in  this  great  poem,  and  bears 
testimony  to  the  poet’s  own  soul  life,  without 
which  he  could  not  have  written  it. 

De  Quincey’s  interpretation  of  ‘Repent  ye,  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,  ’  the  Greek  orig¬ 
inal  of  ‘repent’  being  Meravoeire ,  is  equally  ap¬ 
plicable  to  ‘conversion’:  ‘Wheel  into  a  new  centre 
your  spiritual  system;  geocentric  has  that  system 
been  up  to  this  hour — that  is  having  earth  and  the 
earthly  for  its  starting  point ;  henceforward  make 
it  heliocentric  that  is,  with  the  sun,  or  the  heaven¬ 
ly,  for  its  principle  of  motion’. 

Our  systems  of  public  education  in  the  United 
States  result  in  a  general  dominancy,  if  not  auto¬ 
cracy,  of  intellect,  which  is  not  conducive  to  public 
morality.  This  may  be  a  startling  statement  to 
some  minds;  but  it  is  quite  true,  as  is  evident  at 
the  present  day.  Some  of  our  greatest  criminals 
are  intellectual  sharpers  with  the  lust  for  harm. 
I  mean,  of  course,  no  condemnation  of  the  noble 
faculty  of  intellect.  Nor  is  it  well  to  be  a  spiritual 
invertebrate  in  this  earthly  life.  Man’s  powers 


INTRODUCTION 


37 


must  exert  themselves  in  combination,  if  he  would 
have  a  well-balanced  character. 

Psychology,  as  generally  taught  in  the  schools, 
tends  to  deaden  a  belief  in  the  independent  life  of 
the  spirit,  rather  than,  as  it  should,  to  vitalize  it, 
and  it  conduces  more  to  materialism  than  does 
any  other  subject  in  the  curriculum  of  studies. 
The  physical  body  is  treated  as  an  automatic  ma¬ 
chine  (which,  indeed,  it  is)  but  it  is  more,  and  the 
more  is  left  out!  It  is  the  temporary  organ  and 
abode  of  the  immortal  spirit.  But  the  latter  is 
regarded  by  many  professors  of  the  subject  as  a 
result  merely  of  the  physical  organism  and  de¬ 
pendent  upon  it  for  its  existence,  which  will  end 
with  the  dissolution  of  the  organism!  The  inde¬ 
pendent  life  of  the  spirit  which  has  been  scienti¬ 
fically  proved  by  investigators  into  Spiritualism 
(it  is  no  longer  a  matter  of  mere  belief),  is  quite 
ignored. 

Spiritualism  has  contributed  more  to  real  psy¬ 
chology  (i.  e.  the  science  of  the  soul),  than  have 
most  of  the  professors  of  the  subject  in  our  uni¬ 
versities.  This  is  not  an  extravagant  statement. 
It  was  really  against  Professor  William  James, 


38 


INTRODUCTION 


of  Harvard  University,  that  he  was  interested  in 
Spiritualism  and  believed  in  and  taught  the  in¬ 
dependent  life  of  the  spirit ! 

Among  the  greatest  contributions  to  real  psy¬ 
chology  have  been  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  and  F.  W.  H.  Myers’s 
‘Human  Personality  and  its  Survival  of  bodily 
death.’  The  chapter  on  Genius,  the  third  of  the 
first  volume  of  this  great  work  is,  of  itself,  a  most 
valuable  contribution.  Genius  was,  perhaps,  never 
before  so  satisfactorily  characterized. 

Some  materialistic  anthopologists,  prominent 
among  them  being  Dr.  Max  Nordau,  regard  genius 
as  a  condition  of  degeneracy!  Myers  has  shown 
that  genius,  with  faculties  in  some  degree  innate 
in  all,  is  ‘rather  a  fulfilment  of  the  true  norm  of 
man,  with  suggestions,  it  may  be,  of  something 
supernormal — of  something  which  transcends  ex¬ 
isting  normality,  as  one  advanced  stage  of  evolu¬ 
tionary  progress  transcends  an  earlier  stage.’ 

While  Genius,  as  characterized  by  Myers,  can¬ 
not  be  produced  by  education,  education,  in  its 
true  sense,  should  be  conducted  in  the  direction  of 
genius. 


INTRODUCTION 


39 


‘Genius  is  the  power  of  lighting  one’s  own  fire,’ 
says  John  Foster,  the  author  of  ‘On  Decision  of 
Character.’  This  is  a  clinamen  toward  a  defini¬ 
tion.  Thomas  De  Quincey,  in  his  essay  on  John 
Keats,  defines  genius  to  be  ‘the  synthesis  of  the 
human  spirit  with  the  human  intellect,  each  act 
ing  through  the  other.’  Such  a  definition  is  en¬ 
tirely  acceptable,  so  far  as  it  goes;  but  certainly 
the  highest  order  of  genius,  such  as  that  of 
Shakespeare  or  of  Milton,  must  transcend  this 
synthesis.  Education  might,  and  ought  to  do 
something  toward  such  a  synthesis.  And  such  a 
synthesis,  even  if  it  were  only  partially  realized, 
would  do  much  for  character  in  this  life,  and 
would  be  some  preparation  for  the  life  to  come — a 
preparation  which  the  present  systems  of  mere 
learning  do  not  much  to  bring  about.  Spiritualism 
is  doing  great  service  toward  such  a  preparation, 
as  it  teaches  more  of  the  constitution  of  the  spirit 
world  than  does  theology.  It  no  longer  needs  an 
apologia  pro  vita  s-ua.  Its  life  has  been  nobly  de¬ 
fended  by  its  votaries  against  all  attacks  of  its 
enemies,  for  the  last  sixty  years.  Nor  does  it 
longer  need  to  notice  the  absurd  explanations  of 


40 


INTRODUCTION 


its  phenomena,  made  by  ‘the  wise  in  their  own 
conceit.’  It  need  only  to  go  on  and  do  the  great 
work  which  is  before  it,  really  the  greatest  work 
which  is  now  to  be  done  in  the  world — the  great¬ 
est  by  reason  of  what  is  destined  to  be  its  results 
in  freeing  theology  of  its  baseless  traditions, 
many  of  them  Babylonian,  and  the  church,  from 
its  subjection  thereto,  and  in  bringing  the  spirit 
world  into  a  more  intimate  relationship  with  this 
lower  world.  With  the  latter  rest  the  conditions 
required  for  this  more  intimate  relationship,  one 
indispensable  condition  being  the  quickening  of 
the  spiritual  nature  along  with  what  is  now  an 
almost  exclusive  cultivation  of  the  discursive, 
non-intuitive  intellect,  in  the  general  systems  of 
education.  I  have  already  alluded  to  some  of  the 
means  for  inducing  this  quickening  of  the  spiritual 
nature,  which,  apart  from  its  being  a  condition  of 
increased  relationship  with  the  spirit  world,  is  an 
indispensable  condition  of  the  only  true  life  in 
this  world.  The  literature  of  Spiritualism,  which 
is  now  greater,  perhaps,  than  that  of  any  other 
subject  during  the  last  sixty  years,  while  it  sub¬ 
stantiates  spirit  visitation,  and  the  influence  of 


INTRODUCTION 


41 


the  spirit  world  upon  this,  is  an  exponent  of  the 
most  advanced  religious  thought  of  the  present 
time,  and  is  destined  to  transform,  if  not,  perhaps, 
in  time,  do  away  with,  theology,  which  has  been 
maintained  by  a  hierarchy,  and  to  make  the  life  of 
the  spirit  the  all  in  all  in  religion,  as  it  was  the  all 
in  all  with  the  founder  of  Christianity.  There  can 
then  be  a  truly  catholic,  that  is,  universal,  church 
which  is  one,  spiritually,  and  diversified,  intellec¬ 
tually. 

The  salvation  which  Jesus  taught  comes  from 
within,  not  from  without.  There  could  be  no  such 
thing  in  the  nature  of  things  as  a  vicarious  atone¬ 
ment,  an  inheritance  of  Christian  Theology  from 
the  Savage  Past.  Man  can  be  at  one  with  the  Uni¬ 
versal  Spirit  only  through  his  own  spiritual  vital¬ 
ity.  That  alone  is  salvation.  Through  that  alone 
he  becomes  his  own  Saviour.  He  cannot  reason¬ 
ably  hope  for  a  delegated  responsibility.  As  says 
the  German  Mystic,  Johann  Scheffler  (Angelus 
Silesius) : 

‘Tho’  Christ  a  thousand  times  at  Bethlehem 
were  born, 


42 


INTRODUCTION 


And  not  within  thyself,  thy  soul  would  be 
forlorn. 

The  cross  at  Golgotha  thou  lookest  to  in  vain, 
Unless  within  thyself  it  be  set  up  again.  * 


*Wird  Christus  tausendmal  zu  Bethlehem  geboren, 

Und  nicht  in  dir,  du  bleibst  noch  ewiglich  verloren: 

Das  Kreuz  zu  Golgotha  kann  dich  nicht  von  dem  Bosen, 
Wo  es  nicht  auch  in  dir  wird  aufgericht’t  erlosen. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES. 


I. 

Good  to  forgive; 

Best  to  forget ! 

Living,  we  fret; 

Dying,  we  live. 

Fretless  and  free, 

Soul,  clap  tliy  pinion ! 
Earth  have  dominion, 
Body,  o  ’er  thee ! 

II. 

Wander  at  will, 

Day  after  day, — 
Wander  away, 
Wandering  still — 

Soul  that  canst  soar ! 
Body  may  slumber : 
Body  shall  cumber 
Soul-flight  no  more. 

III. 

Waft  of  soul’s  wing! 
What  lies  above? 
Sunshine  and  love, 
Skyblue  and  Spring! 
Body  hides— where  ? 
Ferns  of  all  feather, 
Mosses  and  heather, 
Yours  be  the  care! 

Robert  Browning. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES. 

9  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

At  this  first  seance  I  did  not  know  that  the  con¬ 
trol  could  adapt  her  rate  of  utterance  to  my  writ¬ 
ing,  until  past  the  middle  of  the  seance,  when  I  ex¬ 
pressed  the  wish  that  I  could  take  down  the  mes¬ 
sages  verbatim.  She  then  said  she  could  wait,  af¬ 
ter  each  phrase  or  sentence,  for  me  to  do  so.  The 
opening  messages,  as  was  usual,  had  come  from 
my  wife,  the  founder  of  the  Spirit  Band,  my 
daughter,  and  two  sons,  which  I  could  copy  only 
imperfectly,  the  control  speaking  too  fast  for  me. 

My  wife  had  brought  to  the  seance,  Goldwin 
Smith,  whom  she  had  known  many  years,  when  in 
the  body,  and  he  being  a  distinguished  visitor,  and 
having  recently  passed  to  the  spirit  world,  the 
members  of  the  Band  were  much  pleased  to  give 
place  to  him  to  deliver  his  message.  In  the  spirit 
world,  ‘honor  due  and  reverence  none  neglects,’ 
as  Milton  says  in  the  Paradise  Lost. 

I  was  now  able  to  take  down  his  message  ver¬ 
batim,  and  from  that  time  on  all  the  messages 
through  the  24  seances. 

Nothing  has  been  omitted  or  added  in  the  mes¬ 
sages  as  they  were  given  to  me.  They  are  given 


46 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


strictly  verbatim ,  no  improvement  in  any  expres¬ 
sion  throughout  the  whole  series  of  seances  was 
necessary.  H.  C. 

GOLD  WIN  SMITH. 

1  believe  the  world  would  fall  to  pieces  if  it  were 
not  held  together  by  the  influences  from  the  spirit 
world.  There  is  so  much  of  a  disintegrating  pow¬ 
er  in  the  world,  to-day,  that  the  spiritual  forces  of 
man  would  be  dissipated  and  lost  if  it  were  not  for 
the  continual  outpouring  of  the  spiritual  fluid 
from  this  life. 

Much  of  my  work  needs  finishing  touches,  and 
putting  in  order;  and  I  had  set  myself  about  the 
task  of  doing  it,  but  it  was  never  finished.*  And 
now  other  hands  than  mine  must  finish  the  work, 
I  mean  my  Reminiscences.  They  are  in  such  shape 
that  they  can  be  adjusted,  but  it  will  not  be  by  my 
hand.**' 

Goldwin  Smith. 

*  He  fell  and  broke  his  hip  on  February  2,  1910,  and  was  no 
longer  able  to  give  the  finishing  touches  to  his  Reminiscences, 
He  passed  June  7,  1910. 

**The  editing  of  the  Reminiscences  was  left  to  Arnold  Haul- 
tain  his  secretary  for  more  than  17  years.  In  a  letter  received 
from  him,  he  writes  “Some  time  before  his  death,  Mr.  Gold- 
win  Smith  in  an  agreement  signed  by  himself  and  myself,  and 
duly  attested,  appointed  me  his  sole  literary  executor;  and, 
in  order  to  enable  me  to  carry  out  that  trust,  put  me  in  pos¬ 
session  of  ‘all  his  writings  and  manuscripts.’  ” 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


47 


10  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

Pauline  Henriette  Corson. 

Oh,  it  is  such  a  joy  to  come  to  you  and  speak  in 
this  clear  and  definite  way.  You  know  thac  we  are 
always  near  you,  always  at  your  call ;  and  yet,  to 
he  able  to  express  some  of  the  things  we  have  long 
wanted  to  tell  you,  is  a  joy  to  all  of  us.  First,  I 
want  to  tell  you  about  our  home.  Something  we 
have  never  talked  much  about  is  the  capacity  to 
see  you  even  while  we  are  busy  and  concerned  in 
the  affairs  of  the  life  we  now  lead.  We  have  a  pow¬ 
er  not  possessed  by  mortals  of  seeing  long  distan¬ 
ces,  and  through  opaque  substances.  Solid  matter 
has  no  power  to  obstruct  our  view.  Consequently, 
wherever  we  are,  we  are  able  to  see  you  and  know 
what  you  are  about.  We  are  not  obliged  to  be 
present  in  the  room  where  you  are,  in  order  to  be 
conscious  of  your  thought  or  attitude;  but  when 
we  desire  to  express  something  to  you,  we  draw 
near,  in  the  same  normal  and  natural  way  as  we 
should  if  we  were  in  the  physical  world. 

Tt  seems  as  if  the  eye  of  the  spirit  had  telescopic 
power,  and  microscopic  power  as  well.  So  you 


48 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


see,  father  dear,  that  we  have  added  powers  which 
help  us  to  bear  the  separation  which  seems  always 
so  hard  for  mortals  who  do  not  understand  the 
progressive  steps  or  changes  from  death  into  life 
eternal. 

I  do  not  mean  to  tell  you  how  much  I  love  you; 
that  you  know,  and  may  rest  in  for  ever  and  ever; 
but  to  tell  you  of  my  active  life,  my  power  to  bring 
things  into  your  life,  and  the  understanding  of  the 
law  which  keeps  us  all  together. 

When  Mamma  first  came  over  here,  she  was  so 
uneasy  over  you.  She  felt  you  needed  her,  and 
she  talked  about  it  all  the  time.  She  used  to  say, 
‘Pauline,  what  can  I  do.  I  feel  as  if  I  had  left 
him  alone  to  live  out  his  life,  and  I  so  much  want 
to  have  him  with  me  here.’  But  now  she  is  bet¬ 
ter  content,  and  is  satisfied  to  wait  until  the  day 
comes  when  you  will  open  the  door  and  walk  into 
the  new  life  with  the  energy  which  has  been  stor¬ 
ed  up  within  you,  by  your  understanding  of  the 
spiritual  law.’  [The  control  speaks:  ‘Then  that 
daughter  of  yours  just  stoops  over  you  and  draws 
your  head  right  over  on  her  shoulder  and  whis¬ 
pers  to  you  that  you  look  just  as  young  and  hand- 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


49 


some  to  her  as  you  did  when  she  was  here.  She 
sees  no  sign  of  age  about  you,  only  the  wonderful 
spirit  that  actuates  you,  does  she  see,  and  she 
loves  that  spirit.” 

There  is  a  music  box;  don’t  you  have  that  play, 
sometimes,  for  your  seances'?  (Yes,.)  Well,  Paulie 
speaks  of  that,  and  says  she  loves  that.  There  is 
one  piece  of  music  from  an  opera  that  she  loves 
the  best  of  all  that  is  in  that  music  box.  There  is 
a  march  which  Mr.  Brooks  likes.  It  is  something 
like  a  grand  processional.] 

Paulie. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

Help  me  to  say  all  that  is  in  my  heart.  The 
sweet  associations  of  the  past  crowd  in  upon  me 
now,  as  I  stand  here  speaking  to  you  from  this 
glorious  life  that  is  all  about  me. 

It  was  a  great  cross  to  us  that  our  sons  were 
not  spared;*  and  yet,  when  I  found  them  here  so 
highly  developed,  so  real,  and  so  like  men,  I  felt 
quite  content  that  they  had  preceded  me ;  and  you 
will  feel  just  as  I  did  when  you  come  over  where 

*  They  both  passed  in  babyhood,  54  and  48  years  ago. 


5 


50 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  am.  They  are  still  studying  and  working,  and 
tell  me  in  confidence  that  they  have  so  much  they 
want  to  do  before  you  come.  Mr.  Whitman  *  has 
been  like  a  father  to  them,  and  they  love  him  sin¬ 
cerely  and  he  has  grown  through  his  service  to 
them,  which  was  rendered  first  for  love  of  you, 
now  combined  with  a  devotion  to  them. 

Mr.  Whitman  was  a  much  misunderstood  man; 
and  you,  with  your  quick  comprehension  of  his 
message  and  his  power,  helped  him  to  receive  re¬ 
cognition  from  others,  and  he  never  will  forget 
it.  When  he  first  met  me,  over  here,  his  first 
words  were,  ‘mv  dear  friend,  how  glad  I  am  to 
welcome  you;’  and  then,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,** *** 
he  said,  all  that  I  had  of  recognition  I  owe  to  him  ’ 
(meaning  you). 

After  I  had  had  some  long  talks  with  my  father, 
***who  had  been  gone  so  long,  he  told  me  that 
many,  many  times  he  had  been  to  our  home  and 
had  tried  to  manifest  there. 


*  Walt  Whitman,  the  poet,  who  passed  in  1892. 

**  The  Control  said:  That’s  only  a  mode  of  expression. 
The  spirit  does  not  shed  tears. 

***  Francois  Antoine  Rollin. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


51 


The  boys  hardly  wanted  me  to  leave  their  pres¬ 
ence,  a  moment.  They  had  had  a  mother’s  care 
from  your  mother.  They  call  her  Mother  Corson. 
But  they  always  knew  that  I  was  the  mother. 
They  had  been  taught  that.  And  let  me  say  right 
here,  dear,  that  no  one  can  usurp  the  place  which 
belongs  to  another.  Motherhood  is  always  moth¬ 
erhood  ;  and  the  children  waited  in  understanding 
and  knowledge  of  the  coming  parent. 

The  control:  Your  wife  speaks  of  your  boy 
alive.  She  thinks  much  of  him,  and  often  goes  to 
see  him.  But  he  is  not  sure  of  her  visits.  He 
would  be  glad  to  be  sure,  but  is  not  sure,  of  her 
presence.  But  she  does  not  forget  him;  and  if 
she  could  do  anything  to  help  him,  she  would.  He 
ought  to  understand  this  philosophy.  It  would 
help  him  in  his  profession. 

I  see  a  little  girl  of  his.  Her  name  begins  with 
M  (Mildred?)  ‘Yes.’  She  is  a  medium,  she  is  so 
psychic.  She  is  very  like  her  grandmother  Cor¬ 
son.  Your  wife  says:  I  never  could  say  all  I  wish 
to  say,  with  a  little  smile  on  her  face. 

Cakrie. 

One  of  your  boys,  Joseph,  just  comes  forward 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


with  all  the  strength  and  beauty  that  come  from  a 
purely  spiritual  life,  and  he  says : 

How  can  I  express  to  you  how  glad  we  all  are 
to  have  you  take  this  journey  to  talk  with  us !  It 
will  help  you  through  many  of  the  long  lonely 
hours  of  the  winter;  but,  father,  if  you  could  see 
us  in  the  home,  you  would  never  have  a  lonely 
moment.  It  is  not  alone  in  the  seance  room  that 
we  come,  but  we  are  with  you,  some  of  us,  every 
hour  of  the  day.  Somebody  is  always  on  guard, 
and  you  have  some  beautiful  spirits,  long  gone 
from  the  Earth  life,  who  are  guides  to  you.  They 
were  there  around  you  when  we  came  over  here, 
long,  long  ago.  I  think  they  were  there  when  you 
were  a  very  young  man,  when  you  first  began  to 
philosophize  on  these  subjects. 

Joseph  Corson. 

[The  Control:  Your  boys  love  your  uncle 
Alan.*  a  Quaker.  He  had  the  essence  of  this  truth, 
of  spirits  hovering  near  mortals;  and  while  he 
was  no  fighter,  he  would  stand  for  his  faith  as 

*  Alan  W.  Corson,  a  mathematician  and  a  scientist,  who 
passed  in  1882,  in  his  85th  year.  He  was  a  strong  abolitionist, 
and  for  many  years  would  not  make  use  of  the  products  of 
slave  labor. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


53 


staunch  and  firm  as  any  soldier,  in  the  army  of 
the  Lord.  He  is  a  wonderful  spirit,  and  your  boys 
are  very  fond  of  him,  and  they  learn  much  from 
him.  He  takes  them  on  long  walks  through  woods 
and  country  of  the  spirit  world,  and  shows  them 
the  wonderful  manifestations  of  the  great  spirit, 
the  Spirit  of  Life,  the  Energy.  Your  uncle  Wil¬ 
liam  is  with  Alan.  He  did  not  have  the  same 
capacity  which  Alan  had,  but  he  loved  him,  and 
would  do  anything  he  could  for  him,  was  proud  of 
him.  Hiram  is  with  them.  That  book  of  his  is 
authoritative.  He  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  on 
it.* 

They  wanted  to  send  a  word  to  you  while  there 
was  a  chance,  because  the  Corsons  are  in  a  man¬ 
ner  clannish,  and  they  don’t  want  to  be  left  out. 
They  cling  to  you,  and  they  want  recognition. 
Your  Uncle  Jacob  is  here.  He  is  one  of  those 
wholesome  and  good,  and  strong  as  he  can  be; 
and  he  wants  to  speak  of  your  mother,  because 

*  ‘The  Corson  Family:  A  History  of  the  Descendants  of 
Benjamin  Corson,  son  of  Cornelius  Corson  of  Staten  Island, 
New  York,  By  Hiram  Corson,  M.  D.  William  and  Hiram  Cor¬ 
son  were  physicians,  the  latter  distinguished  in  his  profes¬ 
sion,  which  he  practiced  for  more  than  sixty  years,  passing  in 
1896,  in  his  92d  year. 


54 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


she  is  so  happy  to  come.  You’ll  be  giad  to  know 
she  is  having  so  much  peace  and  quiet.  She  work¬ 
ed  so  hard  when  she  was  here.  She  was  very 
proud  and  wanted  all  the  best  that  could  come  to 
her  children. 


11  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

Before  you  go  back  home  I  want  to  give  you 
some  messages ;  but,  to-day,  we  all  stand  aside  un¬ 
til  Mr.  Browning  gives  you  his  message.  F.  W.  H. 
Myers. 

The  control :  The  first  thing  Mr.  Browning  does 
is  to  clasp  your  hands  and  look  into  your  eyes ;  and 
he  says : 

This  is  one  of  the  happiest  experiences  of  my 
many  beautiful  ones  with  you.  It  is  always  a  joy 
for  a  man  to  meet  a  man  whose  impulses  and  in¬ 
spirations  are  like  his  own.  So  you  can  well  un¬ 
derstand  my  pleasure  in  coming  to  you. 

Although  I  am  largely  read  and  generally  ap¬ 
proved,  it  was  not  always  so;  and  I  had  to  work 
my  way  into  the  hearts  of  the  people,  or  rather  in¬ 
to  their  comprehension.  I  know  what  you  will 
say,  my  friend,  their  comprehension  had  to  grow 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


55 


to  meet  my  expression.  Be  that  as  it  may ;  to-day, 
the  understanding  of  my  lines  is  only  possible  by 
those  who  have  felt  the  touch  of  the  Infinite  Spirit 
and  heard  the  voice  of  the  angelic  host. 

I  wish  I  were  able  to  express  to  you  all  the  won¬ 
drous  beauty  of  the  life  over  here.  But  you  will 
come  by  and  bye,  and  then  it  will  be  my  pleasure 
to  go  with  you,  and  enjoy  with  you  some  of  the 
beauties  of  the  spirit  kingdom.  Your  wife  is  often 
our  companion  through  old  scenes  and  associa¬ 
tions,*  and  a  most  agreeable  companion  she  is,  for 
she  excels  in  the  power  of  conversation. 

I  am  still  interested  in  the  world  and  in  states¬ 
manship,  and  all  the  powers  that  hold  nations  to¬ 
gether;  but  you  well  know  that  I  prefer  to  keep 
just  outside  the  circle  of  political  influences,  and 
shoot  my  arrow  over  the  heads  of  the  ring  masters 
and  touch  the  centre  beyond. 

I  was  interested  to  watch  our  late  King**  when 
he  came  over  here — he  who  had  been  the  idol  of 
the  idle,  he  who  had  been  the  courtier  of  the 


*  He  means  Earthly  scenes  and  associations.  My  wife 
knew  him  when  in  the  body. 

**  King  Edward  VII. 


56 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


court,  and  he  who  found  his  Kingship  after  long 
years  of  dissipation  and  commonplace  life.  Like 
ordinary  men  he  had  to  come  among  us  without 
pomp  or  ceremony,  or  any  of  the  things  that  spoke 
of  his  greatness  by  birth;  and  like  a  true  Briton, 
he  accepted  his  place,  and  smiled  graciously  on  his 
friends.  It  was  a  surprise  to  him  to  find  himself 
relieved  of  the  burdens  of  state ;  hut  to  those  who 
were  concerned  with  the  Kingdom,  pre-eminently 
Mr.  Gladstone,  there  was  no  surprise.  I  only 
speak  of  this  as  one  of  the  instances  of  interest  to 
some  of  us  over  here. 

It  is  as  interesting  to  see  a  man  of  degree,  ap¬ 
parently,  from  the  world’s  standpoint,  slip  into 
his  place  of  spiritual  height  and  understand  him¬ 
self  at  once. 

The  one  thing  that  stands  out  more  definitely  to 
the  thinkers  of  the  race,  is  the  classification  of 
spirits  by  their  Earth  expressions.*  They  slip  in¬ 
to  the  class  to  which  they  belong  as  naturally  and 
normally  as  rain  falls  into  running  brooks  and  be- 

*  There’s  an  automatic,  so  to  speak,  classification  of  spirits 
according  to  their  spiritual  progress  in  Barth  life.  It  will  he 
seen  that  the  word  ‘expression,’  is  used  in  all  the  messages,  in 
the  general  sense  of  life  manifestation. 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


57 


comes  a  part  of  the  great  water  system  of  the 
world. 

Most  poets  have  a  sense  of  the  unfitness  of 
things  in  human  life,  and  the  cry  of  their  souls  af¬ 
ter  adjustment  becomes  the  song  that  soothes  the 
heart  of  the  nation. 

You  well  know  that  many  of  these  things  I  felt, 
and  tried  to  express;  and  with  all  the  gratitude 
and  love  at  my  command,  I  sign  myself  your 
friend,  Robert  Browning. 

The  Control :  Immediately  behind  him  conies 
his  little  wife,  and  she  says: 

“We  are  so  happy  to  think  how  this  has  all  been 
brought  about.  God’s  hand  is  in  all  friendships, 
and  his  fingers  close  fast  into  the  fingers  of  our 
loved  ones. 

It  is  wonderful  to  think  of,  but  we  who  stand  in 
the  light  of  the  revealed  life,  see  an  explanation 
for  all  the  intricate  paths  that  cross  and  recross 
the  lives  of  our  human  friends. 

We  are  so  happy  to  have  our  lives  written,  and 
are  happy  to  have  you  give  so  much  information 
to  our  dear  Lilian,*  and  through  that  friendship 

*  Miss  Lilian  Whiting,  who  was,  at  the  time,  writing  the 
combined  lives  of  Robert  and  Mrs.  Browning. 


58 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


of  yours  and  liers,  we  are  able  to  come  and  make 
this  human  touch  with  you.  It’s  good,  so  good,  to 
be  with  those  you  love;  to  feel  the  very  heavens 
stoop  low;  enfolding,  as  a  lily,  in  white  clouds 
from  above,  all  the  sweet  influences,  and  bringing 
perfect  peace. 

Sometime,  I  hope  to  bring  a  verse  to  you  and 
lay  it  on  the  altar  of  our  precious  friendship ;  for 
you  must  know  that  whoever  holds  Robert’s  af¬ 
fection,  holds  mine  too.  We  are  one  and  indivisi¬ 
ble,  to-day,  as  always. 

Bless  you  for  all  the  brave  words  you  have 
spoken  in  defense  of  this  truth  which  to  me  was 
the  only  explanation  of  life. 

Elizabeth  B.  Browning. 

ALFRED  TENNYSON. 

I  give  you  greeting,  dear  brother  Corson.  I  do 
not  want  to  take  a  moment  from  your  heart’s 
treasures,*  but  this  place  was  assigned  me.**  You 
see,  dear  friend,  every  thing  that  comes  to  you  is 
systematized  and  orderly,  because  it  is  as  it  should 

*  My  own  four,  wife,  daughter,  and  two  sons.  **The  Band 
had  arranged  in  regard  to  the  order  in  which  the  members  of 

it  were  to  give  their  messages. 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


59 


be  for  a  man  of  your  habits.  When  we  come  to 
you  in  your  home,  we  are  as  regular  as  the  sun, 
and  never  miss  the  time  or  the  place ;  and  we  are 
trying  to  have  this  series  of  interviews  as  orderly 
and  perfect  as  those  at  your  home. 

I  cannot  express  to  you  the  joy  it  is  to  find  a  re¬ 
sponsive  spirit  in  the  world  of  mortals.  So  long 
it  mourned  its  dead  as  if  there  were  nothing  but 
dumb  lips,  and  deaf  ears,  and  sightless  eyes,  and 
vacant  places,  that  the  very  thought  of  a  message 
was  doubtful  and  displeasing ;  and  so  we  were  put 
away  like  some  rare  treasure  to  wait  until  a  day 
dawned  when  the  door  of  our  dark  hiding  place 
would  be  opened,  and  we  should  once  more  be  re¬ 
vealed.  But  to  be  able  to  come  in  a  human  way  to 
a  human  heart,  is  joy  unspeakable.  We  do  ap¬ 
preciate  your  effort  to  give  us  pleasure  at  the 
home,*  and  the  house  is  never  empty  and  never 
silent  to  us,  for  the  whispers  of  the  dead  are 
there ;  I  mean  of  course,  the  supposed  dead. 

I  often  stand  in  your  library  and  look  over  your 
books,  and  am  as  much  at  home  as  if  I  were  in  my 

*  He  alludes  to  the  private  stances  at  my  home  on  Thurs¬ 
day  evenings,  the  Medium  being  my  Swedish  housekeeper, 
Matilda  Sjoegren. 


60 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


old  surroundings,  and  much  more  at  home  than  I 
am  in  Westminster  Abbey,  although  I  suppose  I 
would  have  felt  chagrined  had  I  been  put  in  an  or¬ 
dinary  grave. 

The  honors  England  heaps  upon  her  dead  lau¬ 
reates  have  to  be  slipped  out  from  under,  in  order 
to  get  a  breath  of  free  air. 

I  am  still  writing  poetry  and  often  read  it  to  a 
little  company  of  kindred  spirits  and  enjoy  their 
criticism  and  their  praise  just  as  much  and  more 
than  I  could  have  done  in  the  world,  for  then  I 
was  supersensitive  and  ambitious,  and  now  I  have 
lost  all  that. 

We  have  a  niche  for  you,  not  in  the  Poet’s  Cor¬ 
ner,  but  where  you  can  stand  and  view  each  of  us 
from  our  respective  places,  and  pass  upon  us  in 
your  own  inimitable  way.  I  think  I  shall  not  be 
afraid  to  submit  to  you  the  work  of  my  thought 
and  spirit  when  you  get  here. 

The  drives*  we  take  with  you  are  like  hours  of 

*  All  the  members  of  the  Band,  and  a  large  number  of 
invited  friends,  among  them  being  Indian  spirits  invited  by 
Longfellow,  accompany  me  in  my  occasional  drives  through 
the  fine  scenery  in  the  vicinity  of  Ithaca.  They  appear  to  have 
a  special  enjoyment  in  these  drives.  They  speak  of  them  af¬ 
terward  in  the  stances. 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


61 


recreation  and  mirth,  with  that  undercurrent  of 
harmonious  relationships  and  joy  which  beauty 
brings;  and  from  our  various  scenes  of  work  we 
come  to  join  you  with  pretty  much  the  sense  of 
having  been  released  from  school. 

Now,  with  your  permission,  I  withdraw,  that 
your  wife  may  give  her  message  to  you. 

Tennyson. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

I  was  here,  last  night,  and  tried  to  have  you 
feel  that  I  was  in  the  room,  and  with  you  when 
you  came  back  for  the  night.  When  you  went  out 
of  the  room,  we  went  away  for  a  little  to  get  a 
change  and  bring  fresher  magnetic  currents  to 
you,  and  we  went  home*  and  found  everything  all 
right  there,  but  the  home  looks  empty  without  you, 
and  we  don’t  care  to  stay  there;  it  is  the  people, 
the  human  hearts  that  hold  spirits  to  Earth,  not 
beautiful  scenes,  or  familiar  places.  If  you  were 
never  to  return  to  the  old  home,  I  would  have  but 
a  passing  interest  in  the  place.  But  you  will  go 
back  again,  and  the  old  life  will  be  resumed,  and 
we  shall  have  our  Thursday  seances  as  usual. 

*  The  home  in  Ithaca,  Cascadilla  Cottage. 


62 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Mrs.  Sjoegren  has  already  been  fixing  up  your 
room,  taking  things  out  to  air,  and  having  several 
little  things  done  while  you  are  away. 

She  is  getting  ready  to  put  up  some  grapes.  She 
was  looking  at  some  of  them  to  see  how  they  were 
getting  along.  She  has  a  way  of  putting  them  up 
in  your  favorite  way,  and  she  takes  them  when 
they  are  just  about  a  certain  point  for  the  purpose. 
They  are  not  quite  ready  yet ;  they  will  be  in  a  few 
days. 

I  want  to  tell  you  this,  because  it  is  a  story  you 
are  never  tired  of :  my  interest  and  love  for  you 
is  as  fresh  and  strong  as  it  was  the  first  of  my  days 
with  you.  You  always  allowed  me  perfect  free¬ 
dom  to  express  myself  in  every  way,  and  I  believe 
I  gave  you  the  same  freedom,  and  therein  lies  the 
secret  of  our  calm,  beautiful,  and  expressive  life. 
We  saw  other  people,  in  many  instances,  fail  to 
get  out  of  their  lives  what  it  seemed  God  intended 
them  to  get;  but  we,  through  mutual  cooperation 
and  independant  action,  accomplished  many 
things  which  otherwise  we  could  not  have  done. 

Mr.  Longfellow  and  I  are  very  close  friends, 
and  his  charming  wife  I  know  and  love.  You 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


63 


should  see  some  of  the  results  of  his  work.  He 
saw  only  the  beautiful  in  every  thing.  If  it  were 
the  Indian  race  which  most  people  thought  on  as 
only  common,  dirty,  undeveloped  humanity,  or  an 
Arab  steed  which  men  prized  for  speed,  he  saw 
beauty  and  spirit,  and  made  poetry  of  it.  Yes, 
who  but  Longfellow  could  have  made  an  immortal 
poem  on  a  rainy  day,  and  various  subjects  of  that 
sort. 

He  is  very  gallant  and  kind  to  me,  and  often 
with  a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eye,  he  refers  to  work 
I  did  for  him,  and  asks  me  if  I  think  it  was  worth 
while.  He  is  referring  to  ‘Hyperion,’*  you  know, 
and  I  always  reply  that  it  was  worth  while,  and 
let  it  rest  there. 

Everything  that  I  did  in  my  life,  in  the  way  of 
intellectual  attainment,  I  am  glad  of;  but  I  could 
wish  that  I  had  taken  the  spiritual  interpretation 
of  life  just  as  literally  as  you  have  always  done. 
You  were  a  little  ahead  of  me  in  that  way.  You 
made  it  a  part  of  every  expression  of  your  life, 
and  believed  always  in  the  perfect  expression 

*  She  translated  ‘Hyperion’  into  French,  and  portions  of 
‘Hiawatha’  into  German,  in  the  original  trochaic  tetrameter 
verse. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


64 

being  possible;  while  I  sometimes  liad  my  doubts, 
and  was  willing  to  wait  till  I  got  to  the  other  side. 

You  had  little  patience,  at  times,  with  those  who 
denied  the  reality  of  spirit  communications.  I 
was  more  patient  about  it,  perhaps  because  it  did 
not  mean  quite  so  much  to  me  as  to  you.  But  now 
that  I  am  over  here,  I  see  that  the  spirit  message 
and  the  spirit  communion,  and  the  interpenetrat¬ 
ing  power  of  spirit  life,  are  of  supreme  impor¬ 
tance,  and  should  come  first  and  become  the  foun¬ 
dation  on  which  all  our  Institutions  are  builded, 
and  our  structures  of  life  erected. 

But  our  love  that  held  us  together  through  all 
the  years,  is  the  golden  chord  which  binds  us  now. 
And  when  your  eyes  open  on  this  life,  I  hope  mine 
will  be  the  first  smile  to  greet  you.  Carrie. 

PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON. 

I  think  there  will  be  more  or  less  effort  between 
us  all  to  give  you  the  first  greeting.  If  mamma 
gives  you  the  first  smile,  I  shall  claim  the  first 
kiss,  and  the  boys  can  each  take  a  hand,  and  in  that 
way  we  shall  make  a  grand  triumphal  march  to 
our  spirit  home. 


PAULINE  IIENRIETTE  CORSON 


65 


This  is  only  a  bit  of  my  fun,  father;  but  I  want 
you  to  think  of  me  as  loving  you  in  a  human  daugh¬ 
terly  fashion,  with  a  pride  that  is  a  big  as  I  can 
well  carry,  for  the  best  father  in  all  the  world. 

Paulie. 


EMIL  CORSON. 

Father,  if  we  could  not  see  you,  and  hear  you 
speak  to  us,  we  should  be  quite  lonely  for  a  fa¬ 
ther’s  love;  but  as  it  is,  we  are  happy  and  look 
forward  to  your  coming. 

You  looked  quite  as  though  you  needed  me  this 
morning.  I  wanted  to  come  in  and  help  you  get 
ready  for  breakfast,  and  then  go  out  with  you;  but 
all  I  could  do  was  to  precipitate  strength  and 
stand  around  and  see  if  it  took ;  and  I  guess  it  did, 
for  you  seemed  to  get  along  all  right  after  break¬ 
fast. 

I  want  to  be  the  first  of  the  family  to  thank  Miss 
Whiting  for  her  kind  attention  to  my  dear  father; 
and  Miss  Kate  Field*  has  asked  me  to  give  you 
her  greetings  and  tell  you  that  she  is  with  the 

*  Miss  Whiting  wrote  the  Life  of  Kate  Field.  They  were 
intimate  friends  for  several  years  before  Miss  Field’s  decease. 

6 


66 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Browning  group,  and  loves  them  and  knows  you 
through  them.  Emil. 

FRANCIS  E.  BENNETT. 

Kind  Friend,  how  can  I  say  to  you  what  I  want 
to  say?  Your  friendship  was  such  a  treasure  to 
me;  and  all  the  months  of  my  sickness  I  looked 
forward  to  your  calls  and  your  messages,  and  I 
wanted  to  live.  But  just  as  soon  as  I  was  free 
from  the  worn-out  physical  body,  I  was  glad  it 
was  over.  Death  is  not  a  hard  master.  Some 
times  our  own  struggles  make  it  hard  for  the 
angel  to  lead  us  through  the  gate;  hut  the  firm 
hand  always  takes  us  to  a  place  of  safety  in  God’s 
kingdom. 

Thank  you  for  the  flowers.  The  Control :  She 
shows  me  some  tall  flowers.  They  look  like  gladi¬ 
oli.  She  calls  your  housekeeper  by  her  first  name, 
and  says,  ‘she  has  proved  all  right,  hasn’t  she’?* 

Francis  E.  Bennett. 

*  It  was  through  Miss  Bennett,  who  was  a  patient  at  the 
time,  at  Clifton  Springs,  N.  Y.,  that  I  secured  the  services  of 
my  Swedish  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Matilda  Sjoegren,  whom  she 
called  Tilly. 

12  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  What  I  say  is  not  so  important  as 


WALT  WHITMAN 


67 


what  the  friends  say;  but  they  could  not  speak  so 
definitely  unless  I  were  here.  So  I  am  some  good. 
They  heard  you  ask  if  they  were  all  here,  and  they 
responded:  the  wife  and  the  children  and  the  near 
family  friends  with  love-light  in  their  eyes,  and 
the  other  friends  with  a  bright  light  of  interest, 
and  a  desire  to  communicate  more  definitely  their 
thought  and  their  feelings  toward  you.  Mr.  Whit¬ 
man  comes  first  to  send  his  message.  He  looks  so 
robust  and  sturdy,  you  would  hardly  expect  those 
fine  violin  strains  to  come  from  him  until  you  per¬ 
chance  caught  a  look  at  his  sensitive  mouth,  or 
heard  the  vibrant  tones  of  his  voice.  His  voice 
changed  as  often  as  his  mood  changed,  and  he 
himself  was  a  creature  of  many  tones,  and  each 
one  expressed  itself  through  a  resonant  body. 

WALT  WHITMAN. 

Give  me  your  hand,  0  friend,  and  let  me  sit  be¬ 
side  you,  while  I  recall  some  of  the  blessed  experi¬ 
ences  of  the  past,  and  speak  to  you  of  my  present 
existence  which  is  so  full  and  free. 

Freedom  for  the  soul  was  my  battle-cry;  and  I 
knew  right  well  that  a  soul  dwelling  in  absolute 


6  8 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


freedom  would  speak  the  mighty  Swan’s  songs  of 
God. 

It  was  a  comfort  to  me  to  find  that  I  had  not 
been  wholly  misunderstood  when  I  came  over  here, 
for  I  had  many  kind  friends  waiting  to  receive 
me,  and  piping  back  to  me  the  lines  my  brain  had 
writ. 

It  was  no  small  favor  you  did  for  me,  long  ago, 
and  my  appreciation  of  your  appreciation  has 
found  expression  in  service  to  the  boys.*  They 
call  me  Father  Whitman,  and  I  am  as  proud  as  if 
they  were  children  of  my  loins.  Often  I  have  felt 
that  I  would  like  to  sit  down  in  your  library  and 
talk  over  the  life  of  reality  over  here.  Few  peo¬ 
ple  live;  many  people  flutter  and  fly  from  tree  to 
tree  where  fruit  is  ripest,  and  fill  their  stomachs, 
and  forget  the  real  purpose  of  life. 

It  was  to  that  class  my  anathemas  would  be 
hurled ;  but  they  need  nothing  from  me  except  that 
I  let  my  light  shine  so  that  when  the  shadow  falls 
across  their  lives  some  gleam  may  be  there  for 
their  help  in  a  bewildering  situation.  We  have  a 

*  My  two  sons,  Joseph  and  Emil,  who  died  in  babyhood, 
one,  54,  the  other  48  years  ago. 


WALT  WHITMAN 


60 


goodly  company  of  them  over  here,  and  they  re 
tard  the  growth  of  the  souls  in  your  life,  just  as 
much  from  here  as  if  they  were  still  embodied. 
There  seems  to  be  no  discrimination  in  the  power. 
.Just  as  fools  have  hands  and  jackasses  can  kick 
higher  and  harder  than  the  ordinary  horse,  so 
these  spirits  of  fool  capacity  and  jackass  obstina¬ 
cy  can  use  their  hands  and  their  kicking  power  to 
upset  some  of  our  best  laid  plans. 

I  used  to  feel  that  all  my  energy  ought  to  be 
spent  for  the  benefit  of  mortals,  that  is,  after  I 
came  over  here;  but  now  I  am  content  to  use  my 
influence  among  those  who  have  migrated  from 
your  sphere,  except  now  and  then  when  I  feel  an 
intense  longing  to  help  some  one  whom  I  have 
known  and  loved. 

I  am  still  writing;  and  I  want  to  tell  you,  my 
kind  friend,  that  as  long  as  there  are  people  in  any 
sphere  of  existence,  there  must  be  poets  and  lovers 
of  poets.  It  is  not  a  lost  art  in  the  spirit  land,  but 
a  perfected  one.  So  you  will  not  be  without  an 
occupation  when  you  come  over  here,  nor  will  you 
be  laid  on  the  shelf  as  you  sometimes  feel  you  are, 
to-day;  but  all  this  study  and  observation,  and 


70 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


learning  of  yours  will  be  like  so  much  power  in 
your  spirit  life. 

Your  wife  and  your  boys  are  fitting  up  a  library 
over  here  for  you;  and  everything  they  can  find 
that  is  worthy,  they  put  into  it.  So  you  will  not  be 
hungry  for  your  books.  And  Paulie  has  been 
painting  some  beautiful  things;  for  her  artistic 
spirit  expresses  itself  that  way. 

I  am  going  with  you,  tomorrow,  and  we  are  go¬ 
ing  to  have  a  big  company  of  Indians  out  of  re¬ 
spect  to  Mr.  Longfellow,  accompany  you  so  that 
no  harm  can  come  to  vou.#  Have  no  fear  you  are 
not  going  to  ride  home  to  glory  in  an  automobile.*  ** 
Nothing  less  than  a  golden  chariot  will  do  for  you. 
This  is  only  a  bit  of  my  fun  to  relieve  the  tension 
of  your  mind,  because  of  the  possible  danger  of 
the  devil’s  vehicle.  That  is  a  name  I  give  it;  so 
when  I  speak  of  it  again,  sometime,  you’ll  know 
what  I  mean.  But,  seriously,  men  fought  steam 

*  I  had  arranged,  it  being  the  56th  anniversary  of  my  mar¬ 
riage,  to  visit  Mr.  Longfellow’s  home  in  Cambridge,  known 
as  the  Craigie  House,  formerly  Washington’s  headquarters. 
All  the  Band  were  to  accompany  me,  and  Longfellow’s  Indian 
spirits  and  other  invited  spirits. 

**  I  had  shown  great  fear  of  the  automobiles.  They  were 
so  numerous  in  the  city,  I  feared  to  cross  the  streets. 


WALT  WHITMAN 


71 


engines  with  the  same  fear ;  but  they  were  obliged 
to  run  their  cars  on  tracks,  and  through  pasture 
lands  where  a  cow,  now  and  then,  was  their  only 
victim.  Human  life  is  sacrificed  so  cheaply  now; 
but  if  people  care  no  more  for  it  (human  life)  than 
to  constantly  put  it  in  danger,  eventually  some 
stronger  power  will  take  a  part  in  the  proceed¬ 
ings  and  stay  the  awful  havoc. 

[The  control:  He  turns  now  and  points  to  a  pic¬ 
ture,  one  of  himself,  as  though  it  were  one  that 
had  been  sent  you,  not  by  him,  but  by  some 
friends.*  And  right  near  that  is  a  picture  of  Mr. 
Longfellow,  in  his  very  best  attitude,  smiling  and 
serene.  ] 

Whitman  continues:  I  longed  to  see  you  during 
those  last  days  of  my  earthly  life,  but  at  the  very 
end  I  went  away  quite  easily  and  unafraid.  At 
first  I  fretted  and  wanted  to  stay,  and  then  I 
wanted  to  go ;  and  I  am  now  with  my  own,  those 
I  loved  who  went  before  me. 

One  word  more ;  I  must  not  take  too  much  of  the 


*  A  picture  of  Whitman,  his  autograph  and  1891  beneath  it, 
was  sent  to  me  by  some  friends  to  whom  I  had  been  reading 
Whitman’s  poems. 


72 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


time,  but  I  want  you  to  feel  I  am  your  brother  and 
friend,  and  that  the  happiness  I  receive  from  your 
cordial  reception  givetli  me  joy.  Good-bye.  I  will 
come  again  before  you  go  away.  And  I  am  to  be 
here  every  day  whether  I  speak  or  not. 

Walt  Whitman. 

LONGFELLOW. 

I  would  like  to  say  just  a  few  words  before  you 
go,  tomorrow.  It  is  a  joyous  occasion  for  us  all, 
and  the  effort  you  have  made  to  get  there  pleases 
me  more  than  I  can  express ;  and  all  the  Band  are 
going,  and  all  those  Indian  friends  who  have  come 
with  me  so  often  in  the  past.*  Don’t  forget  that 
Craigie  House  is  an  old  revolutionary  domicile; 
and  when  you  are  standing  in  the  study  window, 
look  out  across  the  Charles  and  see  what  my  in¬ 
spiration  was  many  many  times.  I  want  you  to 
look  at  some  of  my  books  and  my  pictures  and 
mementoes  of  Italy.  They  are  there,  and  some 
statues  are  there. 


*  He  alludes  to  their  coming  with  him  when  the  Band  and 
invited  friends  accompanied  me  in  my  drives,  which  I  have 
spoken  of  in  a  former  note. 


HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW 


73 


And  right  here  I  want  to  tell  you  that  Beecher, 
that  famous  fighter  for  the  rights  of  the  black  man, 
has  given  you  a  call  on  several  occasions,  and  told 
me  that  if  he  had  been  as  outspoken  for  the  truth 
which  you  understood  so  well,  and  which  he  com¬ 
prehended,  in  a  measure,  he  might  have  done  more 
good  in  this  specific  direction.  I  often  made  it 
plain  in  my  poetry,  that  I  believed  the  spirits  of 
the  dead  were  about  us.  It  was  the  only  hope  that 
saved  me  from  the  deepest  despondency  when  the 
frightful  tragedy*  came  into  my  life. 

You  have  a  more  beautiful  University  geo¬ 
graphically  than  we  had,  but  Harvard  is  dear  to 
me;  and  I  would  gladly  speak  my  love  to  some  of 
my  co-workers  whose  heads  are  so  deep  in  the  fog 
of  material  things  that  they  fail  to  see  the  hands 
stretched  down  from  the  heavens,  filled  with  the 
gifts  of  the  Eternal  One.  I  won’t  say  good  night; 
just  adieu,  for  a  moment. 

Longfellow. 

*  Mrs.  Longfellow  was  accidentally  burned  to  death,  in  the 
summer  of  1861.  She  was  engaged  in  sealing  up  some  small 
packages  of  her  two  little  girls’  curls  which  she  had  just  cut 
off.  From  a  match  fallen  upon  the  floor,  her  light  summer 
dress  caught  fire,  and  she  was  so  burned  that  she  died  the 
next  morning.  Longfellow  in  his  endeavors  to  save  her,  was 
himself  so  burned  that  he  could  not  attend  the  funeral  to 
Mount  Auburn. 


7-1 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Here  we  are,  Paulie,  Joseph,  Emil,  and  myself, 
to  give  you  our  daily  greeting.  Oh,  we  are  having 
such  a  wonderful  visit,  and  we  are  so  hajDpy;  but 
we  don’t  want  you  to  get  too  tired.  Already  this 
room  is  highly  magnetized,  and  before  you  leave 
it,  it  will  seem  like  home. 

Everything  is  all  right  at  home;  and  it  will  be 
all  the  sweeter  when  you  get  there,  for  this  ab¬ 
sence,  which  has  brought  so  rich  a  gift  to  you.  I 
have  been  all  the  morning  visiting  Mr.  Longfellow 
in  his  spirit  condition ;  and  the  Indians  who  are  to 
escort  you,  tomorrow,  are  as  proud  of  the  duty  as¬ 
signed  them  as  if  they  were  escorting  a  king. 

Paulie  is  so  full  of  enthusiasm  for  everything 
she  sees;  and  she  says  father  does  not  have  the 
flowers  here  as  at  home,  but  we  have  so  many 
other  things  to  see  and  do  that  we  never  miss  that 
breakfast  call.*  Now  Joseph  takes  Paulie  by  the 
arm,  and  he  says  she  did  not  know  she  had  two 
such  big  brothers  till  she  came  over  here.  She 
knew  it  but  she  did  not  realize  it.  And  he  says : 
We  decided  to  speak  first  and  let  Emil  have  his 

*  They  all  visit  me,  at  home,  every  morning  at  breakfast. 
Flowers  are  always  on  the  table. 


EMIL  CORSON 


75 


last  words  this  time.  Emil  says,  I  always  have 
the  last  word.  I  guess  it  is  because  I  am  good- 
natured  and  let  them  speak  first;  but  we  are  a 
happy  group.  No  matter  how  much  we  chaff  each 
other  about  first  and  last  messages. 

Oh,  mamma  wanted  to  tell  you  something,  and 
I  am  going  to  do  it  for  her.  She  has  always 
wanted  to  thank  you  for  everything  you  did  while 
she  was  ill ;  and  especially  for  the  way  you  carried 
out  each  wish  of  hers  after  her  passing.  At  first, 
she  was  lonely  for  you,  and  when  she  saw  you  go 
into  the  room  where  she  had  been  sick,  and  stand 
there  and  think  about  her,  she  said  she  would 
give  anything  to  be  able  to  put  her  arms  around 
you  and  tell  you  how  close  she  was  to  you.  And 
then,  after  a  while,  when  you  had  the  room  fixed, 
and  the  seances  began,  she  began  to  be  happier; 
and  now  she  feels  quite  content. 

You  know  how  mamma  loved  Italy;  but  she 
loved  Cascadilla  Cottage  more;  and  she  says  now, 
there  is  no  more  beautiful  spot  in  the  whole  world 
than  Cascadilla  Cottage. 

You  can’t  conceive  of  all  the  things  I  think  of 
to  say,  when  I  am  away ;  and  then  when  I  get  here, 


76 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


they  all  form  themselves  into  one  sentence :  I  love 
you,  father;  and  around  that  I  give  my  other  fee¬ 
ble  messages. 

Upstairs,  in  the  chamber  at  home,  where  the 
windows  face  the  west,  I  love  to  stand  and  look 
out  across  the  valley  toward  the  setting  sun,  and 
see  the  wonderful  beauty  as  I  listen  to  the  water 
[of  Cascadilla  Creek]  and  it’s  beautiful,  and  I 
love  it.  Sometimes  standing  there,  I  see  the  eve¬ 
ning  star  sink  out  of  sight ;  and  I  think  that  is  like 
Paulie’s  life,  and  that  the  fainter  lesser  stars  are 
like  Joseph  and  me. 

You  caught  Paulie’s  spirit  and  beauty  while 
she  was  here;  but  she  followed  the  setting  sun, 
and  slipped  away  from  you;  but  Joseph  and  your 
Emil  you’ll  have  to  wait  till  you  see  over  here  to 
understand  how  bright  and  brilliant  their  lives 
have  become.  Mother  says  that  it  will  be  the  joy 
of  your  soul  to  have  us  by  your  side,  living  reali¬ 
ties,  calling  you  father,  and  responding  to  that 
dearest  word,  son. 

Good  night,  father  dear,  we  will  all  come  again 
tomorrow.  Mr.  Myers  will  speak  to  you  tomorrow. 

Emii, 


F.  W.  II.  MYERS 


77 


13  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  So  much  they  want  to  say,  to-day. 
It  seems  as  though  each  time  they  come,  they  think 
of  more  and  more  they  want  to  say.  Mr.  Myers 
is  going  to  say  a  few  things  to  you  first,  and  then 
the  family  messages  can  come  at  the  end. 

F.  W.  H.  MYERS. 

Here  I  am  to  give  you  greeting  from  the  other 
side  of  the  curtain,  which  does  not  fall  as  a  heavy 
pall  between  us,  but  rather  serves  as  a  reflector 
on  which  some  of  the  heart’s  finest  messages  may 
he  displayed. 

Several  times  since  your  coming  here,  I  have 
thought  I  would  speak  from  the  scientific  side  of 
this  question;  but  strangely  enough,  when  I  come 
to  sit  here  opposite  you,  talking  face  to  face  with 
you,  I  feel  more  as  if  I  could  speak  only  of  the 
beauty  of  such  interviews  as  these.  Still,  there 
is  a  time  for  the  scientific  discussion  of  the  prob¬ 
lem  ;  and  you  will  remember  that  I  made  great  ef¬ 
fort  to  bring  the  personal  relations  into  scientific 
expression,  that  the  world  might  have  a  founda- 


8 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


tion  for  its  belief  or  disbelief,  whichever  it  felt 
best  about  doing  at  getting  the  exact  facts. 

I  have  always  contended  that  the  better  way  to 
get  evidence  (I  mean  exact  evidence  of  human 
personality  surviving  death)  was,  to  let  whatever 
would,  come,  and  then  sift  the  result;  and  invaria¬ 
bly  there  would  be  plenty  of  data  to  support  the 
theory.  This  has  been  a  wonderful  revelation  to 
me ;  the  whole  expression  from  your  Band,  includ¬ 
ing  my  own,  being  so  simple,  so  straight-forward 
and  clear. 

I  have  used  this  instrument  before  in  other  cases 
[the  medium,  Mrs.  Soule] ;  but  not  with  such  per¬ 
fect  results ;  and  I  believe  it  is  the  spirit  of  recep¬ 
tivity  which  you  create.  That  is  the  next  step  to 
take  if  we  would  place  this  truth  where  it  can  do 
its  work  unmolested  by  carping  critic,  and  suspi¬ 
cious  sceptic.  We  must  have  the  receiver,  the  in¬ 
terviewer,  educated,  and  living  in  the  spiritual 
key.  We  must  make  demands  rather  than  let  the 
ignorant  and  foolish  make  all  the  conditions.  A 
fool  can  stand  in  the  street  and  ask  God  all  day 
long  why  he  makes  the  sun  shine  when  it  dried  up 
plants  and  streams,  and  often  overcomes  the  phys- 


F.  JY.  II.  MYERS 


79 


ieal  body  of  all-important  man.  But  God  makes 
no  answer  to  the  fool’s  queries,  but  keeps  the  sun 
shining  in  the  heavens,  and  leaves  the  answer  to 
the  wise  and  those  who  have  taken  advantage  of 
the  wonderful  power  of  sunshine.  I  might  go  on 
and  multiply  examples,  but  I  know  you  will  under¬ 
stand  my  meaning  from  this  message  so  far. 

I  have  been  intensely  interested  in  your  psychic 
experiences  at  home;  and  they  are  quite  like  some 
of  which  I  made  note;  and  there  are  duplicates  of 
them  in  many  families  where  the  word  is  never 
given  to  the  world.  We  hope  to  add  to  the  power, 
on  your  return.  The  conditions  there  will  be 
helped  by  this  replenishing  of  the  psychical  reser¬ 
voir.  You  are  as  much  a  part  of  those  messages 
as  is  Mrs.  Sjoegren.  We  draw  largely  from  your 
brain  capacity,  using  terms  and  phrases  familiar 
to  you,  and  perfectly  unfamiliar,  and  without 
meaning,  to  her;  and  we  use  her  for  that  strong 
magnetic  current  which  must  be  tapped  before 
we  can  express  freely  on  the  mortal  plane. 

Many  an  old  professor,  or  young  one  either, 
for  that  matter,  sitting  in  his  library,  poring  over 
old  Sanscrit,  or  Greek,  Hebrew,  or  Egyptian,  is 


80 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


helped  (aided  and  abetted,  the  lawyers  would  say) 
in  his  research,  by  spirits  who  are  in  his  aura,  and 
may  express  through  his  brain;  but  until  some 
magnetic  wire  is  touched  (and  by  wire  I  mean 
current)  the  physical  demonstration  of  a  presence 
is  quite  impossible.  You  understand  my  meaning. 

We  have  felt  that  perhaps  these  experiences 
might  serve  for  a  valuable  treatise  on  this  matter. 
The  communications  before*  were  so  short,  pithy, 
and  of  moment,  but  not  so  full,  that  it  was  hard 
to  get  the  matter  into  shape,  as  we  hope  to  get  it 
here.  You  have  so  much  of  poetry  that  comes 
from  your  life-work,  the  best  kind  of  poetry  too, 
so  much  love  from  your  own  dear  ones,  so  much 
of  a  religious  fervor  from  Dr.  Brooks,  and  a 
grasping  at  the  scientific  aspect,  at  least,  through 
my  desire,  that  you  are  more  than  ordinarily  well 
equipped  for  this  service. 

It  doesn’t  seem  enough  for  me  to  say  to  you,  I 
was  with  you  yesterday,  and  saw  you  look  at  a 
certain  book;  I  desired  to  have  those  finer,  more 
subtle  expressions  that  are  the  tell-tale  of  the 
spirit  identity,  and  are  not  so  easily  discovered; 

*  Meaning  those  received  at  my  home. 


F.  W.  II.  MYERS 


81 


and  I  would  have  cumulative  evidence,  a  bit  here 
and  there,  that  corroborates  and  makes  sure. 

I  am  mightily  interested  in  the  cross-evidence. 
You  are  familiar  with  the  reasoning;  and  after 
your  return,  I  desire  to  try  some  cross-reference 
work  with  you  there;  and  this  light  here  (the  me¬ 
dium).  If  I  can  come  to  you  at  your  Thursday 
circle,  and  tell  you  something,  and  you  write  it 
down,  and  I  can  come  here  in  Boston,  the  same 
evening,  and  say  something  to  her,  and  she  writes 
it  down,  and  they  correspond,  haven’t  we  got  the 
cross-reference  pretty  well  established?  That  is 
what  I  want  to  do. 

Your  isolation,  which  you  have  sometimes 
grieved  over,  will  stand  you  in  good  stead,  because 
it  will  leave  you  perfectly  free  to  work  out  this 
investigation  for  the  next  two  years  also,  and  add 
a  most  valuable  bit  of  spirit-control  history.  It 
must  be  a  man  whose  word  and  character  stand 
for  something;  and  all  these  things  we  have  taken 
into  consideration. 

It  is  beautiful  to  be  here  with  you,  and  you  will 
notice  that  1  have  implied  that  you  are  not  to 

7 


82 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


come  to  us  immediately,  when  I  suggest  that  you 
have  two  years  or  more  of  work. 

Personally  I  am  attracted  to  you  for  your  fear¬ 
lessness,  your  uprightness,  and  your  application 
to  the  truth  that  held  my  heart. 

I  have  been  kept  rather  busy  by  friends  who  ex¬ 
pected  me  to  give  some  demonstration;  and  it  is 
a  relief,  sometimes,  to  slip  into  your  little  circle,* 
and  rest  with  that  perfect  peace  which  can  only 
come  where  there  is  harmony. 

A  large  circle  is  more  or  less  wearisome,  for  we 
are  obliged  to  contend  with  conflicting  desires 
which  are  like  so  many  noisy  children  clinging  to 
a  mother’s  skirts  as  she  strives  to  do  the  daily 
duties. 

People  often  do  not  think  that  desires  have 
voices ;  but  they  cry  out  like  living  things  to  those 
who  are  in  the  spirit. 

I  think  I  will  say  no  more  this  time.  Your  dear 
wife  is  so  eager  to  speak,  her  happiness  is  so 
great,  that  I  will  come  again,  oh  yes,  many  times 
before  you  go,  and  afterward,  too,  I  hope.  Just 


*  At  home. 


F.  W.  H.  MYERS 


83 


good  afternoon,  and  so  many  grateful  acknow¬ 
ledgments  of  your  courtesy  and  kindness  to  me. 

My  son  would  appreciate  you,  too;  you  know  of 
him,  Paul. 

F.  W.  H.  Myers. 

The  Control :  Now  your  lady  comes  and  looks 
over  into  your  face,  and  she  says : 

I  should  have  known  if  I  hadn’t  seen  you,  this 
morning,  but  just  caught  the  tone  of  your  voice, 
when  you  were  talking  to  our  dear  Miss  Whiting, 
that  something  very  urgent  and  unusual  was  on 
the  tapis.*  We  were  as  eager  as  you  to  get  there 
early  and  have  the  morning  sunshine.  And  wasn’t 
it  beautiful?  It  was  our  little  anniversary  trip 
[the  56th  anniversary  of  our  marriage  in  Boston]. 
Everything  moved  so  beautifully  about  it.  If  they 
had  said  the  automobile  would  be  ready  at  ten,  you 
would  have  felt  obliged  to  wait;  but  one  o’clock 
made  it  out  of  the  question.  And  so  you  were 

*  A  lady  had  offered  her  automobile  to  take  us  over  to 
Cambridge,  at  half  past  nine,  but  afterwards  said  the  chauffeur 
had  to  make  some  repairs,  and  the  automobile  would  not  be 
ready  before  one  o’clock.  I  was  insisting  that  it  would  not  do 
at  all  to  change  the  hour  announced  to  the  Band,  and  that  we 
must  go  by  the  trolley  car  at  the  appointed  time,  and  by  the 
trolley  car  we  went,  much  to  my  satisfaction,  and  also  to  that 
of  the  Band. 


84 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


spared  the  humiliation  of  riding  in  an  automobile 
to  an  old  colonial  dwelling,  whose  walls  had  been 
blest  because  they  hid  away  our  beloved  Longfel¬ 
low.  He  was  at  every  door  and  window  of  the 
Craigie  House,  and  he  said  if  you  could  have 
heard  the  sound  of  the  feet  on  the  floor,  it  would 
have  been  as  a  mighty  army.  He  had  invited  some 
of  his  friends  to  be  there,  among  them  Charles 
Sumner,  whose  bust  was  there.  It  would  have 
been  better  if  Miss  Whiting  had  gone  in,  for  us  to 
see.#  Her  spirit  is  so  transparent  and  helpful,  we 
could  have  seen  with  her  power.  We  send  our 
love  to  her  all  of  us,  and  thank  her  for  the  beauti¬ 
ful  care  and  entertainment  she  gives  you.  We 
were  helped  when  she  came  into  the  grounds.  She 
felt  impressed  to  come.  Miss  Kate  Field  went 
after  her. 


*  I  went  in  with  Mme  Rog6,  for  whom  we  called  in  Cam¬ 
bridge  on  our  way  to  the  Craigie  House.  She  had  been  asso¬ 
ciated  with  Longfellow  in  compiling  the  series  of  31  volumes 
of  ‘Poems  of  Places,’  and  was  well  acquainted  with  every¬ 
thing  in  the  house.  Miss  Whiting  strangely  thought  that  three 
would  be  one  too  many  to  visit  the  house  at  an  irregular  hour 
for  receiving  visitors.  She  walked  up  and  down  the  street  on 
which  the  grounds  front,  and  came  in  when  we  visited  the 
beautiful  grounds  back  of  the  house. 


CARO-LINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


85 


Upstairs,  the  rooms  were  so  sacred;  they  were 
too  sacred,  you  knew,  the  chambers  particularly. 
Mr.  Longfellow  went  up  and  looked  it  all  over  and 
was  like  a  boy.  He  said  to  us  it  was  something  to 
be  entertained  by  a  celebrity  who  was  almost  a 
hundred  and  four.*  I  noticed  the  pens  on  the  table, 
in  his  study.  Did  you  notice,  dear,  the  quills  like 
yours?  It’s  not  like  our  library;  it’s  very  grand 
and  unusual;  but  I  love  ours  best.  There  was  a 
wonderful  chair  there.  Did  you  see  it?  one  pre¬ 
sented  to  him.  Was  it  not  beautiful?  And  did  you 
not  feel  our  presence?  And  then  when  you  came 
out  on  the  steps,  and  caught  the  view  of  the  river, 
you  thought  of  us  again  and  felt  almost  sorry  to 
come  away. 

Well,  it  has  been  a  beautiful  day,  and  Paulie 
was  as  happy  as  she  could  be.  That  was  a  new 
experience  to  her  to  come  to  New  England  and  see 
Longfellow’s  home.  She  loved  Longfellow,  too. 

There  were  some  early  portraits  of  him,  and 
you  saw  those.  And  Paulie  says  she  thinks  Mr. 
Longfellow  wore  boots  like  yours.  The  boys  said 

*  Longfellow  was  born  February  27,  1807,  and  on  the  day 
of  our  visit  he  was  one  hundred  and  three  years,  six  months, 
and  seventeen  days  old. 


8(j 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


they  didn’t  care  so  much  about  going  in.  They 
stayed  outside  with  the  Indians  who  were  lined 
up  in  platoons,  each  side  the  walk. 

Mine  Roge  was  accompanied  by  her  husband* 
in  the  spirit,  and  was  so  glad  to  see  her  have  this 
treat.  She  is  a  literary  woman,**  and  sometimes 
is  starved  for  the  society  of  literary  people  who 
have  passed  on  before  her  and  left  her  alone.  Her 
husband  was  so  gracious  and  cordial,  and  so  in¬ 
terested  in  you,  that  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him 
about  many  things  in  France  where  he  once  lived. 
He  was  so  familiar  with  many  things  that  I  am 
familiar  with  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  meet  him. 

Sometimes  through  the  day,  when  you  are  rest¬ 
ing,  I  run  over  to  our  home  and  see  how  things 
are  getting  along,  and  everything  is  all  right.  But 
at  night,  I  lie  on  the  bed  beside  you  till  your  spirit 
is  released  by  sleep,  and  then  I  take  you  with  me 
until  it  is  time  for  you  to  come  back  in  the  morn¬ 
ing. 

*  M.  Adolphe  Roge,  who  died  in  1896. 

**  Mme.  Roge  published  under  her  maiden  name,  Charlotte 
Fiske  Bates;  she  was  editor  of  ‘The  Cambridge  Book  of 
Poetry.’  1882,  invented  the  ‘Longfellow  Birthday  Book,’  the 
pioneers  of  others  of  the  kind;  author  of  ‘Risk,’  and  other 
Poems,  1879.  Now  aged  72. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON  87 

[Did  I  leave  the  body?  I  asked.]  Yes,  you  left 
the  body  in  sleep.  You  seem  as  free  in  the  spiritual 
ether  as  I,  only  you  have  no  abiding  place  in  the 
spirit  realm,  yet.  You  are  like  a  visitor;  and  the 
scenes  of  Earth  and  your  labors  call  and  beckon 
your  spirit  until  you  return.  I  always  return  with 
you  and  see  that  you  get  inside  all  right,  and  then 
I  am  free  to  perform  my  tasks  of  the  day,  for  you 
wake  up. 

Some  people  recall  some  of  the  experiences 
which  they  have  in  spirit  land;  but  some  are  not 
sufficiently  impressed  to  retain  it  in  the  brain  cells. 
In  your  case  it  is  so  natural  and  the  sphere  of 
spirit  is  so  nearly  a  normal  sphere  for  you  that 
you  have  no  acute  experience,  but  glide  naturally 
and  simply  back  and  forth  from  one  condition  to 
the  other.  Some  people  who  are  rather  psychic, 
but  not  very  spiritual,  get  only  a  little  way  into 
the  spirit  realm  and  see  many  things  that  are  hap¬ 
pening  in  the  world,  or  about  to  happen,  and  are 
so  vividly  impressed  with  it  that  they  retain  it, 
the  shock  of  the  happening  drives  it  home,  to  stay 
as  a  conscious  knowledge.  Then  there  are  other 
people  who  are  highly  spiritualized  who  slip  into 


88 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


the  spirit  realm  during  sleep  but  have  no  well- 
balanced  companion  to  guide  them  safely  and  un¬ 
erringly  to  scenes  of  quiet  and  peace,  and  they 
have  many  experiences,  sometimes  pleasant,  some¬ 
times  unpleasant ;  but  they  frequently  recall  them 
in  a  hazy  indefinite  sort  of  way ;  and  then  there  is 
another  kind  who  have  guides  and  loved  ones  who 
desire  them  to  retain  what  they  see  or  learn,  either 
for  experience  or  experiment,  and  they  do  so. 

You  see,  dear,  there  are  many  varieties  of  the 
genus  homo. 

Dear,  you  are  such  an  enthusiast  that  you  don’t 
know  when  you  are  tired.  So  I  will  just  give  you 
my  dear  dear  love,  and  we  will  all  come  again  to¬ 
morrow. 

Cabbie. 

A  word  at  the  end.  We  shall  solve  this  sphinx- 
like  riddle  yet. 

F.  W.  H.  Myees. 

14  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  Dr.  Brooks  puts  his  hand  on  your 
head.  He  asks  me  to  tell  you  that  all  your  friends 
are  here,  and  that  he  is  to  give  the  first  message. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


8  9 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS. 

If  1  might  offer  a  prayer  at  this  moment,  it 
would  be  that  the  Father  would  shower  his  blessed 
influence  over  this  company  and  make  of  this  hour 
a  memorable  occasion,  serving  as  an  incentive  to 
more  perfect  work,  more  complete  devotion  and 
more  tender  love  to  all  mankind,  and  that  to  you 
might  be  borne  the  blessed  influence  of  peace 
which  comes  when  the  life  is  filled  with  an  under¬ 
standing  of  God  throughout  all  the  Universe. 

It  is  more  than  a  joy  to  speak  to  you,  personally, 
it  is  a  privilege  to  be  one  of  a  Band  of  spirits  who 
hold  intelligent  converse  with  a  mortal. 

I  never  believed  that  God  had  left  the  world 
without  a  witness  of  his  love ;  but  I  was  confident 
that  through  faith  in  the  power  of  Jesus  the 
Christ,  we  might  come  into  higher  relation  with 
the  spiritual  life,  and  gain  an  adjustment  and 
poise  that  would  keep  the  soul  safe  and  calm 
through  all  the  tumultuous  tossings  of  a  tempest¬ 
uous  sea. 

I  am  assured  through  my  own  experience  over 


90 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


liere  that  it  is  a  growth  for  spirits  to  continue  their 
relationship  with  their  loved  ones  on  Earth.* 

I  cannot  realize  why  I  took  it  so  much  as  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  course  that  death  was  a  barrier  between 
communicative  friends.**  It  is  really  a  gate,  and 
makes  all  life  one.  And  I  know  that  mothers, 
whose  babies  crying  in  the  night  for  the  soothing 
touch  of  her  hand  that  is  dead,  find  infinite  com¬ 
fort  for  their  own  souls  in  understanding  the  law 
which  makes  it  possible  for  them  to  bring  spirit¬ 
ual  influences  that  calm  and  strengthen  those  ba¬ 
bies  ;  and  just  as  sure,  and  in  much  the  same  way, 
that  all  people  are  sustained  and  helped  by  ex¬ 
pressed  affection,  the  children  of  men  are  helped 
and  sustained  by  the  expressed  affection  of  those 
■over  here. 

It  is  good  to  talk  with  a  man  who  has  had  this 
-experience,  and  who  can  certify  to  the  sustaining 
power  of  such  intercourse.  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  it  is  the  stairway  which  leads  to  the  upper 

*  It  is  a  notion  with  some  who  are  opposed  to  Spiritualism, 
that  spirits  are  kept  back  in  their  progress  by  being  attracted 
to  stances.  It  is  the  testimony  of  the  spirits  themselves  that 
they  are  helped  in  their  progress,  by  ministering  to  those  they 
have  left  behind  in  Earth  life. 

**  Meaning  when  he  was  in  the  body. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


91 


kingdom.  I  wish  I  had  known  more  about  it  as 
a  religion.  It  was  never  presented  to  me  in  that 
light ;  and  what  little  I  knew  of  it,  in  a  general  way 
I  felt  was  a  case  for  the  scientific  world.  But  I 
see  now  its  importance  in  the  religious  world.  I 
do  not  mean  as  a  dressed-up  philosophy,  with  tags 
of  creed  and  symbols  of  dogmas,  but  that  religion 
which  makes  men  turn  from  the  low  and  ignoble 
to  all  that  is  beautiful,  and  majestic,  and  grand. 
The  communication  proper  from  father  to  son,  of 
wife  or  mother,  is  all  important  to  me,  to-day ;  and 
I  speak  for  its  wonderful  effectiveness  toward 
righteousness.  The  wonderful  pictures  of  a  moth¬ 
er’s  devotion  and  undying  faith  which  all  good 
men  are  fond  of  repeating,  in  story  or  color, 
should  find  voice  in  the  message  of  the  mother  to 
her  darlings  here.  And  you  and  I  know  there  is 
no  power  anywhere  which  makes  for  righteous¬ 
ness  like  love. 

1  want  to  tell  you,  also,  that  my  personal  experi¬ 
ences  which  I  had  before  I  left  the  body,  and  which 
I  shared  with  very  few  people,  were  of  such  a  na¬ 
ture,  so  personal  and  intimate,  that  I  did  not  con¬ 
sider  them  as  a  part  of  the  spiritualistic  philoso- 


92 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


phy.  I  thought  of  them  as  dream  and  vision  which 
come  to  the  soul  in  its  ecstatic  state ;  but  I  find  that 
in  the  most  ordinary  mortals,  if,  indeed  there  are 
any  ordinary  ones,  and  in  the  most  commonplace 
walks  of  life,  if  any  walk  of  life  is  commonplace, 
the  voices  of  loved  friends,  and  dear  guides,  and 
tender  relatives,  are  often  heard  and  heeded.  So 
not  to  the  spiritual  adept  alone  does  God  send  his 
messenger ;  but  to  every  soul  that  walks  the  earth, 
the  angel  sometimes  comes,  and  whether  his  mes¬ 
sage  be  received  or  not,  the  life  is  better  for  the 
invisible  presence  and  the  whispered  consolation. 

I  am  tempted  to  talk  too  long  on  this  theme,  for 
it  is  so  vital  and  peremptory.  But  I  long  to  tell 
you  of  my  present  joy  in  your  visit  to  my  Boston, 
my  diocese,  my  native  and  loved  city,  and  to  this 
hotel*  which  was  well-known  by  me,  as  you  must 
know.  I  went  to  Church  with  you,  and  was  glad 
to  find  you  sitting  there. 

I  preach  now  occasionally,  sometimes  through 
some  one  who  is  striving  to  give  a  message  to  the 
world,  and  sometimes  to  a  company  of  people  over 
here;  for  you  must  know  that  themes  like  those  I 


*  The  Brunswick.  The  stances  were  in  my  room  there. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


93 


would  naturally  choose  to  speak  upon,  are  always 
of  interest  to  people  either  in  the  body,  or  out  of 
the  body.  I  say  this  with  no  exaltation  of  spirit, 
but  rather  to  have  you  understand  why  I  am  asked 
to  speak.  We  know  so  little  about  God  over  here 
compared  to  what  the  most  of  us  expected  to  know. 
Knowledge  only  comes  after  diligent  search;  and 
knowledge  of  God  (he  being  the  unknowable)  must 
be  sought  with  ardor  and  faithfulness  over  here, 
as  in  your  world.*  Some  men  find  an  expression 
of  God  in  a  violet  growing  by  the  brookside;  and 
some  men  see  him  not  even  in  the  thunder  or  the 
lightning,  or  the  mighty  mountains,  or  the  ever- 
surging  sea.  It  is  in  the  soul  that  the  first  know¬ 
ledge  of  God  finds  expression;  and  then  outward, 
outward,  ever  outward  it  finds  its  way,  and 
touches  every  floweret  tracing  its  ways  to  the 
source  of  all  being. 

Some  souls  are  born  spiritually  blind,  just  as 
some  bodies  are  born  with  blind  eyes;  and  it  re¬ 
mains  for  us  who  have  caught  the  Shadow  of  his 
garment  on  the  walls  of  the  universe,  to  take  the 

*  This  is  a  very  interesting  communication.  I  have  known 
people  who  hoped  (literally  speaking)  to  see  God  when  they 
passed  to  the  spirit  world.  He  is  not  a  person. 


94 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


hand  of  these  and  lead  them  to  the  light,  to  the 
Master,  who  shall  touch  their  eyes  and  make  them 
see. 

You  and  I  were  primarily  different  in  some  of 
our  expressions.  The  missionary  zeal  filled  me  to 
overflowing,  while  you  had  little  or  none  of  that. 
Your  thirst  for  knowledge  and  your  ready  accept¬ 
ance  of  it,  gave  you  an  assurance  and  steadiness 
that  was  quite  sufficient.  Perhaps  we  were  both 
bound  a  little  by  the  institutions  which  we  repre¬ 
sented;  and  while  we  had  individual  freedom,  the 
narrowness  of  their  conceptions  reacted  on  our 
lives,  and  affected  us  in  different  ways.  To-day, 
my  zeal  is  just  as  fervent,  and  I  would  give  out 
everything,  all  and  more,  hoping  that  some  seed 
might  find  soil  receptive.  Your  wisdom  and  con¬ 
sciousness  of  how  much  would  go  to  waste,  would 
make  you  less  prodigal  in  the  sowing  of  seed.  But 
I  am  going  to  make  a  sort  of  farmer  of  yon,  after 
all ;  for  some  of  the  seeds  I  put  in  your  keeping, 
you  will  be  bound  to  sow. 

Boston  has  not  changed  materially  since  I  went 
away,  and  I  perhaps  notice  it  less  than  others  be¬ 
cause  I  am  so  constantly  a  visitor.  I  have  many 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


95 


calls  by  my  friends  over  here  to  go  with  them  to 
some  old  familiar  scenes,  or  to  visit  some  dear  one 
close  to  them.  The  world  here*  is  so  much  a  world 
of  sense  that  I  find  it  had  to  realize  that  I  am  dead. 
That  sounds  strange ;  perhaps  I  should  modify  it, 
and  say,  I  find  it  strange  to  find  myself  considered 
dead,  except  in  influence.  We  have  institutions 
and  streets  and  all  the  things  that  make  up  living, 
urban  living,  just  the  same  as  suburban  living. 
Most  people,  if  they  think  of  the  spirit  realm  at 
all,  except  as  a  place  of  pearly  gates  and  golden 
streets,  and  undimmed  glory,  like  to  dream  of  it  as 
some  beautiful,  quiet,  retired  spot,  where  all  the 
active  interests  of  glowing  life  cease;  as  if  the 
spirit  world  might  be  a  vast  pasture  land,  where 
the  shepherd  leads  his  flocks,  to  dwell  in  beauty 
and  quiet  repose.  But  this  is  false,  my  friend,  as 
false  as  is  the  doctrine  of  brimstone  and  eternal 
torment. 

The  activities  of  the  spiritual  life  are  wonder¬ 
ful  beyond  expression.  It  is  no  dreaming  exis¬ 
tence,  but  vivid  and  real  and  progressive ;  and  men 


*  The  spirit  world. 


96 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


gather  together  and  plan  and  work  for  the  uplift¬ 
ing  of  those  in  the  mortal  world,  and  of  the  unfor¬ 
tunates  who  are  hastened  into  this  world  by  undue 
exposure,  privation,  starvation,  and  all  the  dread¬ 
ful  array  of  evils  which  beset  the  ignorant  and 
blind  seekers  after  gold  or  place.  And  to  those 
higher  activities,  research  and  study,  discovery, 
and  application  of  laws  of  nature,  for  the  better¬ 
ment  of  the  world,  mutual  cooperation  in  artistic 
expression,  poetry,  art,  music,  all  those  divine  arts 
are  ours ;  and  daily  I  thank  God  it  is  so. 

You  stand  in  the  vestibule  of  life;  and  those 
who  are  near  enough  to  catch  glimpses  of  its 
beauty,  whisperings  of  its  harmony,  inspirations 
of  its  prayers,  are  your  divine  leaders,  your  poets, 
great  artists  of  every  kind,  but  not  necessarily 
your  ministers,  your  clergymen;  for  in  many  in¬ 
stances  they  are  but  showmen  standing  at  the  tent 
door,  howling  about  the  wares  which  the  Lord 
keeps  inside. 

So  much  more  I  would  say  to  you,  dear  friend, 
but  this  must  suffice  for  now. 

Will  you  tell  my  friend,  Miss  Lilian  Whiting, 
how  much  she  has  helped  me  by  her  perfect  faith 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


97 


in  my  power  to  communicate;  and  tell  her  I  know 
that  she  believes  I  was  a  medium  when  here,  and  I 
believe  so,  too.  For  you,  I  only  say  again,  I  thank 
you,  and  will  come  as  often  as  I  may. 

Faithfully  yours, 

Phillips  Brooks. 

15  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

ROBERT  BROWNING. 

May  I,  please,  send  a  few  words  to  you.  This  is 
our  day;*  if  we  were  in  New  York,  we  should 
he  preparing  for  our  seance.  So  I  had  a  little 
fancy  to  come  and  recall  it  to  you,  and  to  tell  you 
that  we  are  all  going  over  to  the  seance  room  this 
evening  just  as  if  you  were  there,  and  stay  a  few 
moments  to  keep  the  connection  bright  and  in 
order.  We  shall  not  be  lonesome,  because  we  are 
so  happy  here,  and  we  know  that  your  work  will 
receive  a  new  impetus  from  this  change. 

I  wonder  whether  I  spoke  to  you  of  the  won¬ 
drous  joy  that  tilled  my  soul  when  I  found  that  all 
my  dreams  of  heaven  were  realized,  and  I  looked 

*  Thursday,  the  day  when  the  Band  meet  regularly  at  my 
home,  at  8  P.  M. 


8 


.98 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


into  tlie  eves  of  my  darling  and  felt  her  hands  in 
mine. 

For  a  time  I  did  not  feel  as  if  I  cared  whether 
I  could  return  to  the  friends  in  the  Barth  sphere 
or  not ;  but  I  found  her  so  eager  to  unite  with  me 
in  a  work  through  return  that  we  began  at  once  a 
sort  of  mission  to  the  souls  still  bound  and  blind¬ 
ed  by  physical  bands. 

You  remember  the  little  couplet  in  “Aurora 
Leigh  ’, 

‘Love,  let  us  love  so  well,  that  our  work  shall  be 
sweeter  for  our  love.”* 

That  was  the  spirit  in  which  Elizabeth  and  I  be¬ 
gan  our  mission.  And  we  are  never  separated  in 
the  work.  Wherever  one  is,  there  is  the  other; 
and  so  when  I  speak  to  you,  you  may  know  that  I 
am  under  the  influence  of  her  shining  smile;  and 
whenever  she  touches  the  aura  of  her  loved 
Lilian,  ** there  am  I,  lingering  in  the  shadow  of 
her  heavenly  presence. 

*  He  did  not  give  the  lines  just  as  they  stand  in  ‘Aurora 
Leigh,’  vv.  924 — 926  of  Book  IX:  “Beloved,  let  us  love  so  well, 
our  work  shall  still  be  better  for  our  love,  and  still  our  love 
be  sweeter  for  our  work.” 

**  Miss  Lilian  Whiting,  who  was  engaged  at  the  time,  in 
writing  their  combined  lives. 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


99 


We  made  no  mistake  in  the  choosing;  or,  rather, - 
we  did  not  choose,  we  knew,  and  we  loved,  and  our 
souls  melted  into  the  unit. 

So  I  believe  you  and  your  loved  ones  will  find 
your  lives  running  into  the  same  completeness. 

Oh,  I  am  so  glad  for  every  song  we  ever  simg, 
and  for  every  word  we  ever  spoke,  that  helped 
the  world  to  know  more  of  love  and  God ! 

It  is  beautiful  to  have  an  opportunity  to  ex¬ 
press  ;  and  I  thank  you  for  all  your  gracious  kind¬ 
ness  in  opening  so  wide  the  door  to  the  realm 
where  you  dwell. 

We  were  all  much  interested  in  the  message 
from  Dr.  Brooks.  He  was  so  big  and  wonderful 
as  a  speaker,  so  simple  and  childlike  as  a  man,  and 
so  filled  with  the  fervor  of  love  to  God  that  we 
wondered  what  he  would  say  to  you,  knowing,  as 
he  did,  that  clergymen  are  not  held  in  the  highest 
regard  by  you,  especially  clergymen  who  are  al¬ 
lowed  no  originality,  and  are  expected  to  mum¬ 
ble  prayers  which  either  never  had  any  meaning, 
or  lost  it  all  in  the  light  of  revealed  truth.  But  he 
found  a  way  to  express  his  love  to  you,  his  inter- 


100 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


est  in  all  that  was  good,  and  liis  disgust  with 
things  untrue. 

He  was  with  you  this  morning  when  you  stop¬ 
ped  in  front  of  his  house;*  he  was  away;  but  your 
thought  reached  him,  as  a  vibratory  message,  and 
he  hastened  to  your  side,  and  laughed  heartily  as 
he  said,  ‘Oh,  what  hero  worshipers  they  are  after 
all!’  Then  he  came  home  with  you,  and  into  the 
room  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  went  away. 

He  says  that  you  have  never  spoken  of  his 
statue;**  perhaps  you  do  not  like  it;  but  he  sees 
you  have  his  picture  in  your  room  here. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  ought  to  stay  any  longer, 
this  time;  we  are  planning  to  have  an  old  friend 
speak  tomorrow,  and  he  has  been  in  the  room  this 
afternoon  watching  the  method  of  work,  and  has 
absorbed  some  of  the  vitality.  We  refer  to  Mr. 
Sumner.  Mr.  Sumner  represents  a  group  of  peo¬ 
ple  who  are  working  together  in  the  affairs  of  the 
nation,  Lincoln,  whom  you  must  have  known,  and 

*  I  had  taken  a  walk  in  the  Park  with  Miss  Lilian  Whiting, 
and  on  our  way  back  she  took  me  to  the  house  in  which  Dr. 
Brooks  lived  several  years.  We  stood  at  the  steps  for  some 
time,  talking  about  him. 

**  A  colossal  statue,  outside  of  his  church  in  Boston,  repre¬ 
senting  him  as  preaching. 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


101 


Webster,  and  Seward.  There  are  others  in  the 
group,  but  those  faces  are  familiar,  and  I  mention 
them  now. 

Lincoln  is  especially  interested  in  this  form  of 
communication,  although  you  and  he  as  identities 
are  far  apart  in  your  work ;  and  yet  the  result  of 
your  work  would  bring  you  close  together.  Good 
bye,  mv  friend,  this  time. 

Robert  Browning. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

I  have  never  spoken  to  you  of  our  thea¬ 
tres  over  here.  You  know  I  love  the  plays  and 
great  actors,  and  I  loved  Shakespeare.  You  re¬ 
member  that.  Over  here  I  am  quite  free  to  go  and 
see  the  best  acting. 

We  often  saw  good  things  when  we  traveled; 
hut  we  were  so  isolated,  at  home,  that  we  saw  lit¬ 
tle  of  acting  there. 

I  must  tell  you,  some  day,  of  the  wonderful  the¬ 
atres,  over  here,  and  how  grand  it  is  to  see  the 
drama  acted  so  perfectly  and  supremely  for  the 
mere  love  of  expression. 


102 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


dear  Miss  Whiting',  and  my  gratitude  to  her  as 
well.  Good  night.  Carrie. 

16  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  Your  Pauline  is  to  give  the  first 
message,  this  afternoon;  and  she  says: 

Oh,  papa,  we  were  all  so  happy  to  see  the  beauti¬ 
ful  country,  and  to  have  the  experience  of  a  pleas¬ 
ure  drive  in  an  automobile.  * 

You  have  never  asked  me  how  we  travel  from 
place  to  place  in  the  spirit  world ;  and  so  I  am  go¬ 
ing  to  tell  you  that  there  are  as  many  modes  of 
travel  as  you  have  on  Earth.  But  no  one  is  ab¬ 
solutely  dependent  on  any  conveyance  to  get  to 
any  specified  place. 

There  are  currents  like  magnetic  rivers  that  are 
everywhere  through  the  ether ;  and  we  can  get  into 
those  currents  by  a  simple  adjustment  of  the  body, 
and  are  carried  along  to  where  they  lead. 

The  magnetic  currents  between  loved  ones  are 
much  stronger,  and  the  passage  of  flight  is  swifter. 

*  I  went  with  Miss  Lilian  Whiting  and  Mrs.  Soule,  the 
medium,  in  an  automobile  twenty  miles,  or  more,  outside  of 
the  city.  That  distance,  and  the  return,  made  over  forty  miles, 
all  in  what  is  called  the  suburbs  of  Boston. 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


103 


So  the  more  strongly  you  love  us,  the  deeper  the 
current,  and  the  more  swiftly  we  can  come  to  you. 
Many  people  lose  their  interest  in  their  dead 
friends,  and  the  river  dries  up  that  should  con¬ 
nect  them ;  and  so  there  is  seldom  the  definite  com¬ 
munication.  But  you  never  lose  your  interest  in 
your  friends,  and  the  influences  surrounding  them, 
and  so  the  way  is  always  open.  We  have  to  thank 
you  for  that,  because  it  is  a  thing  that  spirits  can¬ 
not  do  by  themselves.  It  is  a  cooperative  work. 

I  loved  the  flowers,  papa,  this  morning,  and  the 
houses  that  looked  like  homes  where  happy  peo¬ 
ple  lived.  I  was  glad  you  had  company  with  you, 
for  it  added  to  the  power  and  made  it  possible  to 
feel  more  keenly  the  air,  and  see  the  beauty,  and 
hear  the  sounds  of  your  world. 

There  are  many  scientific  people  who  would  be 
glad  to  have  the  experiences  which  you  have  with 
us;  but  they  are  cut  off  by  their  doubts,  or  their 
superstitions,  for  they  have  superstitions  of  their 
own.  They  certainly  must  be  superstitious,  for 
there  is  no  foundation  for  their  feelings  against 
communications. 

I  am  not  very  much  interested  in  science.  I 


104 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


don't  have  to  pull  a  butterfly  to  pieces  in  order  to 
enjoy  it.  I  like  to  see  it  as  part  of  the  picture 
of  summer.  But  some  scientists  would  want  to 
pull  every  butterfly  apart,  and  measure  his  wings, 
and  see  how  his  eyes  are  made. 

But  all  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  my  love  for 
you,  which  I  feel  growing  stronger  every  day. 

It  is  so  lovely  to  find  some  of  my  things  at  home 
where  I  had  them.  There  are  only  a  few,  but 
enough  to  make  me  feel  I  am  a  part  of  the  old 
home.  I  was  quite  sad  to  go  away  from  you,  for 
I  knew  you  needed  me;  but  there  was  so  much 
done  to  make  me  happy  in  the  new  life,  and  I  was 
so  soon  able  to  find  my  connection  with  you  that 
I  grew  accustomed  to  the  separation,  physically, 
and  to  the  union,  spiritually.  You  know,  papa,  I 
think  it  is  much  better  to  be  united  spiritually  and 
separated  physically,  than  to  be  united  physically 
and  separated  spiritually.  There  is  a  union  be¬ 
tween  us  now  which  can  never  be  shaken  or  mis¬ 
understood,  and  we  grow  together  more  and  more. 

I  am  not  much  more  of  a  church-goer  than  you 
are;  but  I  do  love  the  wonderful  expression  of 
God  in  the  world,  and  am  quite  content  to  wait  un- 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


105 


til  you  come,  before  I  begin  to  study  the  problems 
of  the  spiritual  forces,  the  Great  First  Cause 
which  men  have  named  God. 

1  am  not  going  to  talk  any  more,  to-day;  but 
sometimes  you  may  think  that  my  brown  hair  is 
close  beside  your  white  hair,  and  that  means  that 
my  arms  are  around  you  and  my  face  is  close  to 
yours. 

Good  bye,  now,  papa. 

Pauline. 

The  Control :  Your  wife  wants  to  say  a  lit¬ 
tle  word : 

.  .  .  1  like  this  dear  city  for  its  beauty  and 

its  associations  with  the  friends  in  the  Band,  who 
lived  here.  Mr.  Sumner,  who  is  to  speak  to  you, 
now,  says  that  Boston  has  changed  much  since  he 
was  here,  but  it  has  kept  its  general  lines  and  ten¬ 
dencies  better  than  most  cities  because  it  has  the 
descendents  of  the  early  settlers  still  in  possession 
of  the  land  and  the  power.  Usurpation  of  the 
home  titles  has  gone  on  less  here  than  in  New 
York,  or  any  other  of  the  large  cities.  Washing¬ 
ton  never  having  any  home  blood  in  its  veins  but 
being  supplied  with  the  best  blood  of  all  other 


106 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


cities,  became  the  great  cosmopolitan  centre  of 
the  nation. 

These  are  Mr.  Simmer’s  words,  dear;  but  I 
leave  him  to  give  you  the  rest  of  his  message. 
Good  bye  for  now.  Joseph  and  Emil  join  with  me 
in  tender  greetings.  Carrie. 

CHARLES  SUMNER. 

ft  lias  pleased  me  to  come  here  to-day  with  our 
mutual  friend,  Mr.  Longfellow,  that  I  might  tell 
you  that  although  my  voice  has  been  silent  these 
many  years,  my  spirit  has  been  active  and  still  is 
active  in  the  problems  which  confront  the  states¬ 
men  to-day.  Patriotism  calls  to  her  sons,  this  hour, 
as  she  never  did  before. 

The  political  situation  is  so  uncertain,  and  un¬ 
safe,  that  sometimes  we  fear  the  progress  of  hu¬ 
manity  will  be  checked  because  of  demands  upon 
it  which  it  cannot  meet.  But  I  have  not  come  here 
to  make  a  political  speech. 

I  was  weary  and  broken  when  I  left  the  arena; 
and  all  the  finer  and  more  beautiful  expressions  in 
literature  and  art  called  to  me  to  surrender  my 
active  work  in  the  warfare  for  the  States ;  and  so 


CHARLES  SUMNER 


107 


1  rested  and  enjoyed  the  study  and  quiet  of  a 
scholarly  life,  instead  of  the  stirring  scenes  of 
statecraft.  But  a  born  patriot  could  not  sit  down 
and  let  his  country  go  to  the  dogs;  and  I  soon 
found  myself  during  the  reconstructive  period 
growing  very  much  interested  in  the  affairs  of 
the  nation. 

To  speak  very  plainly  to  you,  dear  friend,  there 
is  so  much  that  seems  like  child’s  play  in  your 
world  when  you  look  at  it  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  spirit,  that  it  becomes  easy  to  let  the  thing  go 
on,  and  devote  one’s  self  to  those  more  enduring 
and  needful  unfoldments  of  the  spirit.  I  don’t 
want  you  to  get  an  erroneous  conclusion  concern¬ 
ing  my  state  of  mind  or  effort. 

When  a  boy  is  in  college,  he  may  fight  the  bat¬ 
tles  for  the  other  boys,  win  the  prizes,  and  keep 
his  college  colors  afloat,  sing  himself  hoarse  on  the 
college  campus,  that  the  college  songs  may  be 
heard  by  all  who  will  listen,  and  believe  in  his 
heart  that  no  other  university  is  like  unto  his  own. 
But  when  he  gets  into  the  great  world,  there  are 
more  important  and  vital  issues  to  him  than 
whether  his  college  team  wins  the  pennant  or  gets 


108 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


the  best  touch  down  in  the  football  game ;  and  that 
is  what  it  is  to  us.  Many  of  our  finest  sophistries 
of  the  greatness  of  our  country  are  lost  in  our 
knowledge  of  the  kingdom  of  souls. 

Do  you  not  see  that  a  great  statesman  may  be¬ 
come  a  great  lover  of  humanity  in  the  largest 
sense,  and  be  devoted  to  it  only  for  its  spiritual 
possibilities  ?  Whether  it  be  German,  or  French,  or 
English,  to  some  of  us  over  here  matters  little. 

Charles  Sumner. 

LONGFELLOW. 

Dear  Corson,  I  thought  you  would  be  pleased  to 
have  my  friend  Sumner  speak  a  word  to  you. 

1  am  very  glad  you  did  not  feel  impelled  to  stay 
longer  in  that  great  ark  of  a  building,  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Science  Church,  so  strange  a  building  it  is, 
so  massive  and  so  wonderful,  and  we  are  all  shut 
away  from  it  by  the  decree  of  the  mother  herself, 
mother  Eddy. 

T  laughed,  and  so  did  we  all,  when  we  thought 
how  perfectly  we  were  being  entertained,  how 
each  one  of  you  three,  Miss  Whiting,  the  medium, 
and  yourself,  were  being  followed  by  bands  of 


HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW  109 


your  own  through  this  great  building  whose  found¬ 
er  says  there  is  no  communication  with  the  dead. 
How  fact  does  contradict  fancy,  and  how  truth 
does  slay  a  lie !  We  were  living  witnesses,  or  rath¬ 
er,  you  three  were,  to  the  error  and  untruth  of  her 
printed  statements. 

This  is  only  a  little  word  in  closing,  that  you 
may  know  we  were  all  there.* 

Mrs.  Browning  kept  exclaiming,  ‘how  awful’! 
the  place  seemed  so  barren  and  so  lost  in  itself, 
without  spiritual  impulse  or  feeling;  and  she  said, 
also,  that  the  great  dome  looked  as  if  it  might  have 
been  put  there  that  the  prayers  could  be  sent  right 
back  as  soon  as  they  reached  the  top. 

I  will  say  good  night  to  you  now,  friend,  and 
will  come  tomorrow. 

Longfellow. 

The  Control :  Mr.  Longfellow  says  that  Mr. 
Sumner  felt  so  much  more  intimately  acquainted 
with  you  because  of  the  constant  use  of  your  name 
in  that  intimate  fashion  by  your  many  friends 

*  We  stopped  to  see  the  church  on  our  way  back  in  the 
automobile  ride  alluded  to  by  my  daughter  in  her  last  mes¬ 
sage.  We  knew  that  the  Band  were  all  with  us  when  we 
were  in  the  church. 


110 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


over  here,  that  lie  may  have  seemed  a  little  more 
familiar  than  you  expected  him  to  be.  But  he  has 
nothing  to  retract.  If  he  didn’t  know  you  well  be¬ 
fore,  he  hopes  he  does  now ;  and  he  shall  keep  com¬ 
ing  until  he  warrants  through  association  personal 
that  degree  of  intimacy  which  he  assumed. 

17  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

It  is  so  beautiful  for  us  to  come  here  to  this  little 
vesper  service;  and  when  we  have  finished  the 
duties  of  our  day,  to  join  you  here  in  this  hour  of 
blessed  communion  and  sweet  interchange  of 
thought.  Sometimes,  dear,  I  feel  like  recalling 
some  of  the  incidents  of  our  past,  and  yet  when 
I  get  here,  my  heart  is  so  full  of  the  reality  of  the 
life  that  now  is  that  I  begin  to  talk  and  express 
myself  on  themes  of  present  interest,  and  forget 
the  past.  I  know  you  do  not  need  the  constant  test 
of  my  fidelity,  and  the  things  that  I  would  recall 
are  not  for  that  purpose,  but  to  give  evidence  of 
my  recollection  of  some  of  the  very  beautiful 
things  in  our  life  together. 

You  were  always  interested  in  what  I  wore,  and 
how  I  looked ;  and  sometimes  when  I  put  on  a  new 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


111 


garment  here,  I  think  of  you,  and  wonder  how  you 
would  like  it. 

We  both  have  such  a  love  of  comfortable  ap¬ 
parel  that  we  might  sacrifice  a  style  to  appear  per¬ 
fectly  at  ease  in  a  garment  that  suited  us.  You 
know  clothes  bespeak  the  mind;  and  when  I  tell 
you  that  all  my  clothes  are  fitted  for  the  work  I 
do,  and  are  graceful  and  well  made,  and  of  fine 
material,  you  will  understand  that  I  have  not 
changed  in  my  manner  of  dressing. 

This  is  only  incidental.  But  color  affects  me  as 
much  to-day  as  it  used  to  when  I  was  in  the  phy¬ 
sical  body.  The  subdued  tones  suit  me  best.  I 
show  no  French  tendency  to  royal  purple,  or  bril¬ 
liant  pink,  or  flaming  scarlet,  or  any  of  those 
shades.  It  is  the  mind  and  not  the  nationality  that 
determines  these  things. 

I  am  studying  and  am  writing,  myself,  and  am 
pleased  to  tell  you  of  this,  for  you  will  know  that 
some  of  tbe  desires  I  used  to  have,  have  found 
expression  over  here. 

Pauline  and  I  go  to  grand  concerts,  for  I  am 
thrilled  with  music,  as  I  always  was.  I  have  been 
where  violins  were  played  so  divinely  that  it  seem- 


112 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


ed  a  strain  from  heavenly  heights  lingering  a  mo¬ 
ment  about  us ;  and  the  enthusiasm  of  a  great 
musician  quite  carries  me  away. 

You  remember  01  e  Bull.  I  have  heard  him  over 
here,  and  it  seems  as  if  his  soul  were  singing 
through  the  strings. 

His  wife  could  not  appreciate  any  better  than 
some  ordinary  people,  the  finest  things  he  did, 
but  she  was  proud  of  him,  and  being  a  woman  of 
rare  discernment  and  superior  culture,  she  made 
a  fitting  mate  for  him;  more  ambitious  than  he 
for  social  distinction,  but  he  adored  her,  and  still 
does.  You  know  her,*  dear,  and  you  know  what 
I  mean  by  what  I  have  said.  She  belongs  to  the 
colony  of  the  social  elect,  and  is  a  connoisseur  of 
many  fine  things. 

Enough  of  that.  It  is  a  sort  of  an  introduction, 
or  a  bit  of  gossip  which  makes  me  seem  more  a 
part  of  your  life,  to-day. 

I  feel  like  telling  you  how  beautiful  you  made 
my  life.  You  were  so  pleased  and  proud  over 

*  I  was  her  guest,  several  years  ago,  when  I  was  invited 
to  give  a  Browning  reading  before  the  Boston  Browning  So¬ 
ciety.  She  was  then  occupying  James  Russell  Lowell’s  house 
in  Cambridge;  he  was  then  minister  to  England. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


113 


every  tiling  I  did,  and  always  gave  me  the  encour¬ 
aging  word,  and  never  for  a  moment  demanded 
of  me  anything  which  would  detract  from  my  own 
search  and  effort  after  knowledge. 

Do  you  remember  how  proud  and  happy  we 
were  when  you  first  went  to  Cornell  University, 
and  when  you  were  first  made  a  professor  there? 
We  had  had  some  plans  about  going  in  another 
direction,  and  then  we  went  there,  and  our  life  be¬ 
gan  in  earnest;  and  then  when  we  got  the  house, 
and  when  we  furnished  it,  and  made  the  changes 
and  additions,  all  those  things  are  just  as  plain 
in  my  memory  as  when  they  happened.  And,  per 
haps,  my  life  here,  with  its  plans  for  your  com¬ 
ing,  and  my  work  to  have  every  thing  right  for 
you,  bring  back  those  days  more  definitely  to  me. 

Oh,  how  I  love  my  children!  and  I  want  Eugene 
always  to  feel  that  he  is  one  with  the  rest  in  my 
heart  and  thought,  to-day.  I  am  so  glad  that  we 
have  a  son  in  the  world,  to  work  and  carry  inspira¬ 
tion  and  help  to  those  who  need  it  sorely. 

I  hope  he’ll  be  able  to  get  away  and  visit  you,  by 
and  bye.  It  would  do  you  both  good.  My  love  I 
send  him,  and  tell  him  I  appreciate  and  under- 


9 


114 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


stand  his  ardent  nature;  and  1  know  how  some¬ 
times  it’s  like  taking  a  dip  in  an  icy  stream  to 
drop  from  his  high  thought  of  ideal  life  into  the 
turmoil  and  stress  of  material  conditions.  What¬ 
ever  I  can  do  for  him,  or  for  his  wife,  or  girls, 
from  this  side  of  life,  I  do  with  my  whole  heart. 

The  Control :  She  stops  right  short  there 
and  turns  around  and  beckons  Miss  Bennett  to 
come  this  way.  She  knew  Miss  Bennett,  didn’t 
she?  and  Miss  Bennett  begins  to  speak  immediate¬ 
ly.  She  speaks  quickly,  like  a  woman  who  has  a 
very  full  mind,  but  an  orderly  one,  and  her  expres¬ 
sions  come  walking  out  like  so  many  girls  walking 
out  from  a  school-room,  and  she  says  that’s  a  very 
apt  illustration. 

Dear  Professor,  I  cannot  tell  you  the  joy  it 
gives  me  to  come  here  to-day. 

I  think  I  never  heard  you  read  in  your  course  at 
my  school  that  I  did  not  say  when  it  was  over, 
“it  seems  to  grow  better  and  better  every  year, and 
your  power  of  interpretation  is  marvelous,”  I 
reach  for  you  many,  many  times,  in  my  work  over 
here;  for  you  know  I  am  still  teaching,  as  that 


FRANCES  BENNETT 


115 


seems  the  most  perfect  mode  of  expression  I  have 
just  now. 

I  find  myself  thinking:  I  will  have  the  Profesor 
come  over,  just  as  I  used  to,  when  you  were  in 
New  York  state,  and  I  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  then 
I  realize  that  I  must  wait  a  little  before  I  can  do 
that.  I  am  perfectly  conscious  of  you  as  a  mortal, 
because  I  am  with  your  Band,  and  yet  I  think  of 
you  so  naturally  as  one  of  us  that  I  fall  into  that 
way  of  half-expecting  you  at  some  particular  func¬ 
tion  or  time. 

You  know  I  suffered  so  much  before  I  came 
here,  and  there  was  such  a  long  time  that  I  could 
do  no  work.  There  was  quite  a  while  here  that  I 
lived  a  quiet  and  retired  life  until  I  could  get  ad¬ 
justed,  but  that  is  all  over,  I  am  out  of  the  hospital 
and  fairly  launched  in  a  work  I  love.  Your  wife 
and  I  are  very  happy  in  our  companionship,  and 
we  frequently  make  little  trips  to  places  we  have 
both  known  ;*  and  then  try  and  remember  what  we 
have  seen,  because  the  recollections  of  what  we 
have  seen  do  not  always  come  readily  to  us.  It  is 
similar  to  your  dream  life  when  you  sleep. 

*  That  is,  when  they  were  in  the  body. 


116 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  have  been  intensely  interested  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  your  housekeeper,  Tilly ;  both  she  and  her 
daughter  possess  the  psychic  power,  but  Tilly  is 
the  stronger  of  the  two.  She  is  the  most  faithful 
servant,  and  is  really  above  the  rank  of  ordinary 
servants.  And  we  always  feel  so  safe  to  know  you 
have  some  one  who  can  take  care  of  you,  if  you 
should  be  ill.  I  am  glad  it  turned  out  so  well  as 
it  did.*  I  understood  that  you  could  not  leave  the 
home,  it  was  too  full  of  associations,  and  was  ad¬ 
justed  and  adapted  to  your  needs.  To  tear  you 
away  from  the  scenes  of  your  active  life,  trans¬ 
plant  you  in  some  other  soil,  would  have  been  fatal 
to  your  happiness.  So  this  is  best. 

I  remember  the  last  time  I  was  at  your  home,  a 
little  while  before  I  was  disabled,  and  that  every¬ 
thing  was  so  beautiful  ;  it  seemed  to  me  it  was  one 
of  the  loveliest  spots  in  the  world.  .  .  This  is 

just  about  the  decade  when  there  is  a  general 
changing  about  [in  Cornell  University]  because 
of  age  and  a  general  desire  to  get  on  the  retiring 


*  It  was  due  to  Miss  Bennett  that  I  secured  my  Swedish 
housekeeper,  who  was  employed  at  the  time  in  the  sanitarium 
where  Miss  Bennett  was  a  patient. 


FRANCES  BENNETT 


117 


list.  But  you  and  I,  dear  Professor,  did  not  care 
so  much  about  being  retired  from  our  labors. 

There  are  so  many  more  things  I  wanted  to  talk 
about,  but  these  came  first. 

[  didn’t  always  understand  the  reality  of  your 
consciousness  of  the  spirit  life;  but  it  gives  me  joy 
to  testify  to  it  now.  Tilly  is  rather  lonely  without 
you,  but  it  will  give  her  an  opportunity  to  store 
up  some  energy  for  our  Thursday  seances.  She 
doesn’t  go  into  the  seance  room;  at  least,  I  have 
not  seen  her,  and  it  is  closed  and  kept  securely 
safe  from  all  intrusion. 

Do  you  remember  the  raps  we  once  made  in 
your  wife’s  writing  desk?  (Yes,)  and  how  pleased 
you  were?  And  the  door  that  goes  into  the  other 
room  that  is  always  locked,  do  you  remember  its 
being  unlocked  one  night?  And  the  music-box  be¬ 
ing  wound  once?  What  a  dear  little  room  it  is! 
It  would  seem  as  if  some  of  us  would  have  to  stand 
in  the  hall.  But  you  must  remember  that  it  ex¬ 
tends  upward  to  the  very  gate  of  the  other  life.  . 
.  .  .  I  seem  to  be  losing  power,  Professor,  so 

I’ll  go,  but  come  again.  I  am  afraid  I  haven’t 
made  as  good  a  communicator  as  some  of  the 


118 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


others,  but  my  interest  is  just  as  strong  as  theirs. 
Good  bye  for  this  hour.  Miss  Bennett. 

The  Control:  They  will  close  with  a  word 
from  Pauline  and  the  boys.  They  come  right  in, 
the  three  of  them,  with  smiles  and  fun  on  their 
faces  and  stand  around  you  with  their  hands 
clasped  together,  and  Pauline  says  ‘we  are  making 
a  ring  of  love  around  you,  papa,  and  you’ll  feel 
the  vibrations  of  it  until  we  come  again.’  Joseph 
says  that  he  loves  the  work  that  Eugene  does.  He 
says,  next  to  teaching  the  people  how  to  take  care 
of  their  bodies,  to  help  them  to  take  care  of  them 
when  they  are  out  of  repair,  is  the  most  important 
thing  in  the  world. 

He  thinks  that  all  preaching  should  resolve  it¬ 
self  into  teaching;  and  no  preacher  who  is  not 
a  good  teacher,  is  worthy  the  name.  He  often  goes 
to  Eugene,  and  is  pleased  with  him  when  he  puts 
up  an  argument  to  some  of  his  associates  about 
the  demonstrability  of  the  future  life,  then  leaves 
it  there  for  them  to  think  over.  Emil  says  that 
he  likes  best  to  go  to  Eugene  when  they  are  all  so 
puzzled  and  don’t  know  what  to  do,  and  he  can 
help  Eugene  to  see.  This  is  Saturday  night,  says 


EMIL  CORSON 


119 

Emil,  and  we  are  all  gathered  here  with  you  to 
make  you  feel  that  it  is  the  real  home-night  when 
we  can  sit  together  and  just  be  happy  to  he  in  each 
other’s  presence. 

Good  night,  father ;  they  say,  it  is  time  for  us  to 
let  the  seance  close.  Call  the  roll  and  they  will  all 
say  their  sweet  good  night  to  you. 

18  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

PHILLIPS  BROOKS. 

I  give  you  greeting,  dear  friend  in  the  earthly 
life,  and  am  glad  to  come  with  an  expression  from 
this  sphere  of  even  larger  usefulness  than  that 
which  I  left  behind.  I  might  go  on  for  many  days 
and  repeat  over  and  over  the  joy  it  gives  me  to 
come  to  you;  and  yet  I  could  not  give  you  any 
understanding  of  my  personal  work  and  life  over 
here  by  such  statements.  And  as  that  is  what  I 
desire  to  do,  I  will  begin  at  once,  as  if  you  and  I 
had  a  perfect  understanding  of  the  spiritual  bond 
between  us,  and  need  to  spend  no  energy  speaking 
of  our  personal  interest  in  each  other.  I  know  your 
work  and  life,  your  love  of  the  ethical  and  ultra 
spiritual  expression  in  men  and  women;  and  so  I 


120 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


know  you  will  be  glad  for  me  to  tell  you  that  the 
preacher’s  efforts  are  not  in  vain,  if  he  be  able  to 
awaken  in  souls  a  love  for  God,  the  infinite  one — - 
mark  that  passage — the  Infinite  One;  for  men, 
from  the  beginning,  have  clumsily  fashioned  a 
finite  God,  and  placed  him  in  the  heavens  as  a  be¬ 
ing  above  them  only  in  capacity.  Even  then  men 
might  have  been  better  for  the  finite  God  which 
they  worshipped,  had  they  worshipped  him  fully 
and  completely. 

There  is  no  half-hearted  religion,  and  no  divid¬ 
ed  sanctified  life.  Wholly  and  faithfully  must 
man  serve  those  higher  instincts  which  in  turn 
become  passions  and  yearnings  after  the  ideal 
life.  It  is  as  important  to  be  an  honest  broker  as 
an  upright  preacher ;  and  the  stocks  and  bonds  of 
the  street  must  be  dealt  with  as  seriously  and 
earnestly  as  the  equities  of  the  heavenly  life.  I 
would  not  take  men  away  from  their  vocations  to 
get  their  religious  life,  but  would  take  the  re¬ 
ligious  life  to  them  wherever  their  vocations  might 
lead  them. 

I  am  always  surprised  at  the  honors  which  come 
to  me ;  and  in  the  past,  when  I  knew  my  only  vir- 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


121 


tue  was  a  whole-soul  devotion  to  my  calling,  and 
undivided  affection  for  God  and  his  children.  I 
was  sometimes  alarmed  at  the  excess  of  praise 
and  the  seeming  adoration  for  my  personality.  I 
only  wanted  to  be  a  servant  of  the  living  God. 
And  I  assure  you  I  appreciated  every  kind  word 
that  was  spoken  to  me,  or  about  me ;  but  I  always 
felt  that  it  was  a  power  flowing  through  me  which 
they  loved,  and  I  am  perfectly  sure  of  it  now. 
When  I  came  over  here  to  the  spirit  life,  I  felt  that 
I  must  continue  my  ministry,  and  I  was  not  quite 
satisfied  to  have  it  only  a  work  among  spirits. 
I  wanted  to  do  something  for  the  world  I  had  left, 
and  I  sought  information  about  the  possibilities  of 
such  service,  in  much  the  same  manner  as 
I  would  have  sought  like  information  had 
1  suddenly  been  transported  to  Hawaii  with 
no  vessel  returning.  I  found  that  many  of  my 
preconceived  ideas,  those  I  imbibed  from  educa¬ 
tion  and  association,  had  to  be  set  aside.  I  think 
I  spoke  to  you  of  this  the  other  day;  but  really, 
dear  friend,  when  a  man  earnestly  seeks  the  light, 
he  is  not  turning  his  face  backward,  very  often; 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


]  22 


and  I  was  satisfied  to  let  many  tilings  drift  until  I 
could  better  understand  them. 

The  naked  soul  coming  into  this  life,  clothed 
only  with  the  spiritual  garments,  woven  of  good 
deeds  and  upright  aspirations,  finds  itself  in  a 
haven  of  waiting,  and  is  content  to  let  time  give 
an  answer  to  its  questionings. 

The  most  horrible  sight  is  the  soul  truly  naked 
because  of  its  lost  covering,  and  its  unhappy  lack 
of  faculty  to  create  anything  with  which  to  cover 
itself.  Fine  garments  there  are  in  spirit  land,  and 
jewels  and  precious  things,  but  these  are  not 
bought  with  blood-stained  money,  or  bartered  for 
by  the  world’s  honor.  And  if  we  can  make  men 
understand  that  the  only  wealth  that  survives 
death  is  the  wealth  of  the  lordly  spirit,  we  may 
rest  confident  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  will  come 
down  to  Earth.  One  can  only  have  the  Kingdom 
of  God  by  understanding  what  it  is.  The  crime 
of  life  is  in  wrong  decision  and  selection. 

I  am  not  sure  that  I  am  making  perfectly  plain 
to  you,  what  I  want  to  say;  it  is  not  the  religious 
life  (religion  is  a  function)  but  the  spiritual  life; 
for  spirituality  is  the  attribute  of  the  soul. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


123 


If  I  might  lift  my  voice  till  its  tones  were  heard 
across  the  seas,  and  over  continents,  I  would  cry 
out,  make  haste,  make  haste,  and  decide  which 
shall  be  your  glory,  the  life  of  to-day,  with  the 
power  of  its  wealth,  its  unlimited  capacity  to  do 
all  the  errands  of  the  body’s  bidding,  to  search  the 
farthest  corner  of  the  globe  and  bring  back  fair 
raiment,  and  choicest  viands,  to  pierce  the  ether 
after  new  sensations  of  delight,  in  aerial  craft,  to 
dive  beneath  the  coral  depths  and  bring  the  ocean’s 
bottom  to  your  view,  to  put  sceptre  in  your  hand 
and  give  you  royal  dominion  over  the  Kingdom  of 
the  Earth,  and  toss  you,  at  last,  a  dead  and  wasted 
thing  on  the  shores  of  eternity,  all  your  spiritual 
powers  vitiated  and  destroyed,  and  all  capacity 
for  yearning  after  truth  and  righteousness  para¬ 
lyzed,  or  to  stand  serene  in  the  midst  of  tempta¬ 
tion,  calm  in  the  midst  of  strife,  master  over  the 
carnal  appetites  and  desires,  towering  with  giant 
force  above  the  littlenesses  of  mere  material  ex¬ 
istence,  supreme  in  spiritual  aspiration  over  intel 
lectual  bigotry,  and  closing  the  eyes  in  sweet  con¬ 
tent  on  the  physical  world  to  open  them  in  sweet 


124 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


wonder  at  tlie  glory  of  the  spiritual  wealth  that 
waits  the  coming. 

I  grow  so  eager  to  tell  the  world  what  I  have 
seen ;  I  long  to  tell  them  of  my  ministry  here,  how 
men  whose  lives  have  been  protected  by  deceit  and 
dual  expressions,  find  themselves  suddenly  face 
to  face  with  the  real  situation,  and  beg  me  to  tell 
the  story  to  the  world,  that  some  may  be  saved 
from  the  degradation  and  humiliation  which  come 
from  ignorant  or  wilful  deception. 

The  idols  of  bronze  and  ivory  are  not  the  only 
idols  in  the  world,  and  Buddha  and  Confucius 
are  not  the  only  Christs  whose  votaries  serve  them 
with  incense  and  gems.  Christ,  too,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  sits  enthroned  in  place  of  state,  by  men 
whose  only  offering  to  him  is  gold  and  silver,  and 
equipage  and  lordly  palace.  And  many  minis¬ 
ters  reckon  their  ministry  successful  only  when 
carriages  stand  waiting  at  their  church  doors,  and 
the  rustle  of  silk  garments  disturbs  the  harmomr 
of  the  vesper  hymn. 

Oh,  give  me,  my  Father,  the  heart  that  finds  its 
joy  in  humble  service,  where  the  sobs  of  the  sin- 
sick  and  the  weary  make  music  in  my  ears,  where 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


125 


the  sighings  after  the  understanding  of  the  truth 
spur  my  soul  to  more  active  endeavor,  and  when, 
in  such  lowly  place,  I  feel  the  touch  of  invisible  fin¬ 
gers  on  my  brow,  I  know  my  work  has  reached  to 
greatest  height. 

If  such  could  be  the  prayer  in  every  church,  to¬ 
day,  my  ministry  would  cease;  for  it  is  among 
those  who  did  not  find  the  door  which  leads  to  the 
life  of  peace  in  the  spirit. 

By  this,  you  will  know,  my  friend,  something  of 
my  work  and  effort  over  here.  I  am  deeply  inter¬ 
ested  in  the  spirit  communion  as  a  philosophy,  be¬ 
cause  I  am  sure  that  all  religions  fail  in  trying  to 
give  comfort  to  the  bereaved  heart.  And  if  a 
clergyman  could  stand  over  the  bier  of  a  little 
child,  and  say  to  its  weeping  parents,  whose  hearts 
are  often  surcharged  with  bitterness  toward  God 
for  the  heavy  cross  Death  lays  upon  them,  this 
is  what  the  minister  should  say:  ‘Death  is  an 
open  door  through  which  your  darling  has  passed 
into  a  life  as  real  and  definite  as  yours  is;  and 
from  that  life,  its  consciousness  of  you  will  be  con¬ 
tinued,  its  love  kept  fresh,  and  living,  and  the 
higher  your  life  ascends  the  spiritual  Alps,  the 


3  26 


S  PI  HIT  MESSAGES 


nearer  and  more  perfect  the  method  of  communi¬ 
cation  is  for  you.’  If  a  minister  might  say  this 
truthfully,  instead  of  repeating  all  those  most 
blessed  passages  of  Scripture,  but  so  inadequate 
to  stem  the  tide  of  sorrow  and  natural  rebellion, 
how  easy  it  would  be  for  even  the  suffering 
mothers  and  fathers  to  see  God’s  love  even  in  the 
experience  of  death! 

Few  people  ever  curse  the  Ocean  because  it  rolls 
between  the  continents,  but  they  use  the  means  of 
communication,  and  find  themselves  in  close  touch 
with  those  of  another  shore.  So  we  must  teach 
men  not  to  curse  Death,  or  ignore  it,  but  see  it 
only  as  a  means  of  opening  up  the  continent  of 
spiritual  life.  And  the  price  one  pays  is  not  the 
coin  of  the  earthly  realm  to  communicate  with  the 
spiritual  continent,  but  a  subjugation  of  physical 
desires,  and  a  growing  into  the  fulness  and  per¬ 
fectness  of  the  spiritual  life,  where  the  language 
or,  at  least,  the  codes  and  signals  of  spiritual  navi¬ 
gation  may  be  understood  from  either  side. 

I  fear  I  have  talked  too  long;  the  theme  is  so 
wonderful  and  interesting.  But  now  I  must  leave 
you  for  this  hour  with  this  word  which  you  may 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


127 


credit  yourself  as  being  ivorthy  of.  You  are  at¬ 
tuned  to  the  higher  spiritual  songs;  and  whenever 
the  vibrant  tones  of  your  soul  sound  across  the 
Ether  waves  of  the  silent  spaces  ’neatli  the  stars, 
some  soul  buoyant  and  free  and  singing  like  your 
own,  comes  gladly  to  your  side  to  find  that  joy  of 
soul  companionship  which  is  vouchsafed  to  so  few. 

I  sometimes  think  the  greatest  souls  walk  most 
alone.  Children  play  in  groups;  the  common  pur¬ 
pose  of  hop,  skip,  and  jump  the  ropes,  is  sufficient 
to  hold  them  together.  All  my  messages  seem  so 
ragged  and  incomplete  when  I  get  away;  but  I  am 
sure  of  your  understanding  of  my  desires,  and  I 
thank  you  for  the  atmosphere  of  confidence  and 
trust  which  your  spirit  creates. 

Does  it  not  seem  strange  for  me  to  be  speaking 
this  sort  of  a  sermon  to  the  world  through  you,  al¬ 
most  under  the  shadow  of  my  old  church,  nearly 
eighteen  years  after  my  body  has  been  put  away?* 

Phillips  Brooks. 

*  He  passed  to  the  spirit  world  Jan.  23,  1893 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

I  wonder,  Hiram  dear,  whether  ours  was  not  as 
ideal  a  life  as  the  Brownings’.  She  was  such  a 


128 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


bird,  so  fragile,  such  sweet  songs  she  sang,  that 
the  nest  she  left  never  seemed  like  the  home  nest 
again  to  Mr.  Browning.* 

Yon  have  written  long  enough,  this  time.  With 
a  heart  full  of  love  from  your  Carrie,  we  all  say 
good  nights. 

19  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control:  It’s  such  a  pleasure  to  come  to 
one  who  is  so  responsive  to  our  effort.  lrou  know 
how  it  is  when  you  are  talking  to  a  little  company 
of  people,  it  is  not  easy  to  speak  the  best  thoughts 
unless  there  be  a  responsiveness  in  the  hearts  of 
those  whom  you  address.  Intellect  may  speak  to 
intellect,  but  the  sweetest  and  the  best  exchange 
of  thought  is  between  understanding  hearts  and 
sympathetic  souls.  That  is  only  my  little  word. 

Your  Paulie  comes  first  to  you,  to-day,  and 
says : 

Papa,  darling,  the  sweetest  sound  we  hear  in 
this  life  of  ours  is  your  voice  when  you  call  our 
names.  It ’s  like  a  silver  bell  that  rings  in  our  ears 

*  Browning  never  returned  to  Florence  after  the  death  of 
his  wife,  though  he  survived  her  more  than  28  years,  and 
visited  Italy  during  that  time. 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


129 


and  gives  us  knowledge  of  your  desire  to  have 
our  expression.  Mamma  is  here  and  radiantly 
happy,  and  I  am  very  proud  of  her. 

It  will  be  a  festival  of  talk  when  you  first  come 
over  here.  And  these  great  men  who  are  using 
you  to  send  their  messages  by  you  to  the  waiting- 
world,  will  have  to  stand  aside  a  little  while  until 
we’ve  had  all  the  talk  we  want,  and  told  you  all  the 
things  that  are  in  our  hearts.  I  am  only  here  now 
for  the  daily  message  from  the  family,  and  when 
other  messages  are  completed,  we  are  to  have  the 
last  day,  or  at  least  the  larger  part  of  it,  for  our 
personal  expression. 

What  a  lot  of  beautiful  doves  there  are  here 
in  Boston!  They  are  so  tame  and  seem  to  know 
that  the  people  love  them.  And  I  like  Boston,  too ; 
I  never  knew  much  about  city  life,  but  I  like  this 
city,  and  I  find  many  of  your  spirit  friends  like  it, 
too,  and  walk  about  with  you,  enjoying  the  scenes 
once  more. 

I’ve  been  home,  papa.  We  all  go  every  little 
while,  because  it’s  a  place  that  calls  us  through  its 
associations. 

You  know  the  lovely  golden  rod  that  is  so  beau- 

10 


130 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


tiful  there.  I  love  that  almost  as  much  as  the  roses 
in  June,  and  we  have  many  of  those  around  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  you  know. 

Aunt  Mathilde*  was  not  so  well  acquainted  with 
the  philosophy  of  spirit  communion  as  Mamma, 
and  yet  she  has  found  her  way  to  her  own  home  ** 
on  many  occasions,  and  has  been  able  to  leave  an 
influence  at  the  house.  She  thanks  you  for  the 
things  you  sent  to  her  after  Mamma’s  passing 
away.  Some  of  them  were  useful,  and  some  were 
mementoes,  the  picture  for  one.  She  is  trying 
to  tell  it  to  me,  papa,  and  I  am  doing  the  best  I 
can.  She  is  quite  happy  with  her  father  and 
mother,  and  mamma,  and  the  rest  of  us.  She  says 
it  is  strange  that  she  and  Carrie  should  leave  hus¬ 
bands  behind  to  mourn  them,  and  good  husbands 
they  were,  too,  were  and  are. 

I  will  tell  you  more  about  my  life  here  when  I 
come  the  next  time;  but  Mr.  Whitman  wants  to 
use  a  little  time  now,  and  so  I  kiss  my  fingers  good 
bye  to  you,  and  let  him  talk.  Paulie. 

Mr.  Whitman’s  message  which  came  in  here, 

*  Mrs.  Corson’s  sister. 

**  Her  home  was  at  Tarrytown,  on  the  Hudson. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


131 


has  been  omitted  at  his  own  request.  It  was  some¬ 
what  mixed  np,  due,  it  may  have  been,  to  the  con¬ 
ditions  being,  from  some  unknown  cause  or  other, 
unfavorable  for  the  successful  delivery  of  his  mes¬ 
sage.  If  that  were  so,  it  was  the  only  time  during 
the  twenty-four  seances  where  there  was  any 
hitch  in  the  messages.  The  conditions  could  not 
have  been  more  favorable.  That  may  have  been 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that  I  am  not  an  incredu¬ 
lous  investigator,  who  applies  an  insulated  bump¬ 
tious  intellect  to  a  spiritual  subject,  and  thus  mars 
the  nice  conditions  required  for  successful  me- 
diumship. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

Dear  Hiram,  this  is  almost  the  first  time,  at 
these  seances,  that  I  have  used  the  name  so  dear 
to  me,  so  loved  and  revered.  I  sometimes  get  so 
hungry  for  a  long  talk  with  you;  and  yet  I  am  up¬ 
held  by  the  consciousness  that  by  and  bye  we 
are  to  be  together,  with  no  fear  of  separation  even 
for  a  short  time.  Does  it  seem  so  long  as  it  has 
been  since  I  went  away  from  you?  To  me,  it 
seems  some  times  like  an  eternity;  and  then  again 


132 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


it  seems  but  yesterday  that  we  were  making  plans 
and  working  together  in  that  dear  familiar  way 
which  had  been  ours  so  long. 

Mr.  Whitman  desires  me  to  say  to  you  that  he 
did  not  intend  to  become  so  involved  in  his  mes¬ 
sage  ;  and  then  he  smiles,  and  with  a  look  of  keen 
humor,  he  says,  ‘perhaps  to  be  involved  is  to  be 
Browningesque,  and  to  be  Browningesque  would 
certainly  be  the  height  of  any  poet’s  ambition’. 
And  Mr.  Browning  laughs  back  at  him,  and  says 
that  certainly  his  poetry  was  not  always  involved, 
but  was  very  plain  and  straightforward;  and  they 
both  seem  to  feel  the  good  comradeship  of  people 
interested  in  a  common  cause,  and  having  no  per¬ 
sonal  feeling  about  any  thing. 

Paulie  told  you  that  I  looked  young;  and  I  want 
to  tell  you  that  your  young  spirit,  your  wonderful 
expression  of  vigor,  intellectually,  make  me  very 
proud  of  you.  This  is  so  personal;  but  it  is  the 
way  I  feel ;  and  I  am  sure  that  the  manner  of  your 
living  has  much  to  do  with  it. 

I  must  say  good  night,  dear,  and  I  shall  be  here 
with  the  Brownings  tomorrow.  Send  my  love  to 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


133 


Eugene.  Good  night  again,  dear,  with  love  un¬ 
speakable.  Your  Carrie. 

20  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control:  You  have  a  spiritual  feast  every 
day. 

Your  wife  is  right  by  your  side.  She  says  she 
will  bring  Dr.  Mott*  as  soon  as  she  can;  he  is  so 
much  engaged  with  Eugene.  ** *** 

She  turns  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Browning  and  says: 

Was  there  ever  a  more  joyous  company  than 
gathers  here  at  this  twilight  service.  She  then 
speaks  to  you : 

If  you  could  see  them  you  would  be  surprised 
and  happy,  for  very  often  there  are  many  friends 
whom  you  never  get  a  message  from,  who  gather 
here  to  watch  the  work,  and  enjoy  the  expressions 
of  interest  and  the  interchange  of  thought. 

I  am  glad  that  we  had  that  visit  in  Venice**  with 

*  Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  one  of  the  most  famous  surgeons  of 
his  time  (1785—1865), 

**  My  son,  Dr.  Eugene  Rollin  Corson,  surgeon  and  physician 
in  Savannah,  Georgia. 

***  In  November  1889,  Mr.  Browning,  then  in  his  78th  year, 
showed  great  fulness  of  vitality,  and  was  looking  forward  to 
more  poetic  work.  We  were  to  spend  the  following  May  with 
him  at  De  Vere  Gardens,  in  London;  but  he  passed  away  on 
the  12th  of  December,  at  the  Palazzo  Rezzonico,  the  residence 
of  his  son,  only  a  month  after  we  parted. 


>r;K\'  T  MESSACiFS 


184 


Mr.  Browning,  which  gave  ns  an  insight  into 
Browning  the  man.  It  was  beautiful  as  a  memory 
for  both  of  ns:  and  I  have  often  heard  him  say 
that  it  was  one  of  the  pleasantest  occasions  of  his 
life,  and  made  it  very  easy  for  him  to  find  his  way 
to  you  after  his  spirit  left  the  body.  I  will  not 
talk  any  longer  now.  but  let  them  have  the  first 
strength  of  the  sitting,  that  they  may  speak  freely 
and  fully  without  becoming  weary.  Carrie. 

ROBERT  BROWNING. 

Yes.  I  am  here,  my  friend,  and  more  glad  than 
I  can  express,  to  find  myself  in  active  communica¬ 
tion  with  you.  I  long  many  times  to  find  some 
avenue  of  expression  to  the  world.  And  yet  it  is 
hard  to  speak  definitely  through  the  ordinary 
channels. 

There  are  so  many  people  who  are  psychic  in  a 
degree,  but  have  no  response  to  those  touches  of 
soul  expression  which  mean  so  much  to  ns.  And 
there  are  others  who  are  strong  and  intelligent, 
and  psychic,  as  well,  whose  gifts  are  prostituted 
for  the  gold  and  glint  of  material  things.  So  you 
can  well  understand  what  a  rare  combination  it 


ROBERT  BROW  SI  SO 


13.3 


i-.  to  have  an  intellect  which  can  appreciate,  a 
spirit  which  hungers  for,  a  heart  that  receives,  our 
ministrations  in  joy.  I  refer  to  you,  dear  friend, 
and  I  am  eager  to  express  my  satisfaction  with 
your  devotion  and  unerring  perception  of  our  ef¬ 
fort:-;  to  speak  what  we  know. 

I  am  clear  that  you  will  understand  what  I  say 
when  I  tell  you  I  am  still  singing  my  songs,  and 
writing  my  verses,  if  for  no  other  ear  than  for 
Elizabeth’s.  She  insists  that  I  keep  expressing, 
in  the  same  way,  for  the  very  love  of  the  art:  and 
love  is  the  eternal  passion,  surviving  all  experien¬ 
ces  of  disappointment,  distress,  or  death,  rising 
supreme,  and,  as  with  wings,  bearing  the  soul  to 
God. 

Take  every  thing  else  out  of  the  heart  of  man¬ 
kind,  but  leave  love;  for  so  only  shall  men  know 
the  divinity  that  broods  over  the  world. 

All  the  hours  of  sadness,  that  sense  of  desola¬ 
tion  which  comes  to  the  soul  that  knows  not  of  life 
after  death,  when  the  objects  of  its  affection  slip 
out  into  the  unfathomable  sea  of  eternity,  can  be 
borne  and  borne  with  heroic  patience,  because  of 
the  love  that  made  such  sorrow  possible. 


136 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Small  men  save  themselves  much  pain  by  lov¬ 
ing  little;  but  such  souls  never  reach  the  heights 
of  inexpressible  love  which  makes  it  possible  for 
one  to  wade  through  the  depths  of  hell. 

If  love  is  but  at  the  other  side  of  the  world,  one 
may  pass  through  torment  or  torture  unconscious 
of  the  condition,  seeing  only  the  eyes  of  light  and 
hearing  only  the  voice  of  the  heart’s  choice. 

Think  not,  dear  friend,  that  we  are  unconscious 
of  the  various  changes  in  your  world.  We  too  can 
see  the  sin,  hear  the  cries  of  agony,  and  watch  the 
oppressor’s  hand  swing  ever  and  ever  again  the 
lash  about  the  naked  feet  of  those  who  know  not 
how  to  rise.  But  these  things  do  not  hurt  us  in 
the  same  way  in  which  they  would  hurt  and  grieve 
us  if  we  were  still  in  the  mortal  world;  for  we  are 
also  conscious  of  the  daily  outpouring  of  love 
from  the  ethereal  spheres,  and  the  inflowing  power 
of  wisdom,  and  wisdom  which  makes  for  better 
conditions  even  among  the  lowest  of  the  race. 

If  some  efforts  of  ours  over  here  stirs  the  pul¬ 
ses  of  the  spirit  nation  until  they  march  to  the 
succour  and  relief  of  their  earthly  brothers,  we 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


137 


feel  that  we  have  had  a  part  in  the  relief  and  up¬ 
building  of  the  world. 

I  always  feel  a  sense  of  regret  that  I  have  done 
so  little.  The  clarion  note  of  Truth  sounding 
ever  in  my  ears,  arouses  me  to  do  more  and  more. 
Much  more  is  expected  of  one  who  is  attuned  to 
the  higher  expressions  of  life  than  of  those  who 
dwell  in  the  vallies  and  catch  no  radiant  beam 
from  beyond  the  heights. 

Tennyson  and  I  are  friends,  the  closest  friends, 
and  we  sometimes  have  our  quiet  little  laugh  over 
the  versifiers  who  catch  the  ear  of  the  people  with 
a  cunning  manner  of  metre.  Between  you  and  us, 
I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  it  seems  like  kindergarten 
songs  for  little  children  not  out  of  the  nursery. 
We  would  like  to  see  a  return  to  the  strong,  vigor¬ 
ous  writing,  and  yet  in  the  vigor  to  have  none  of 
the  beauty  lost. 

Elizabeth,  standing  by  my  side,  is  content  to 
sing  her  songs  and  speak  her  praises  to  and  of  me. 
I  would  rather  it  were  not  so ;  and  yet  I  sometimes 
think  that  exquisite  expression  of  tenderness  and 
love,  which  is  the  key-note  of  all  her  work,  can 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


138 

never  come  without  the  personal  touch  with  the 
idol  of  its  affection. 

There  are  so  many  things  I  want  to  say  to  you. 

I  am  not  sorry,  now,  that  I  lived  so  long  after 
she  went  away;  but  I  confess  to  you  that  all  my 
types  of  women  were  beautiful  and  blessed  by  my 
perfect  knowledge  of  one  pure  woman ’s  soul.  Had 
I  never  known  Elizabeth,  I  never  could  have  writ¬ 
ten  ‘The  Ring  and  the  Book.’  I  know  you  have 
thought  it.  Pompilia,  seeking  to  express  her  soul 
through  such  adverse  conditions,  was  a  soul  look¬ 
ing  up  out  of  the  dark  into  God’s  face.  Her  per¬ 
fect  acknowledgment  of  the  perfect  love  through 
all  her  simplicity  and  ignorance  of  the  world’s 
manners,  was  only  the  consciousness  of  a  soul 
awakened  by  the  light  of  supreme  and  untarnished 
love. 

So,  through  all  my  work,  you  will  find  Elizabeth 
written  there ;  and  it  is  with  satisfaction  I  tell  you 
this.  She  taught  it  me ;  she  was  full  of  faith,  and 
beyond  the  women  of  her  time  in  her  understand¬ 
ing  of  their  upreachings  and  misunderstandings 
of  themselves. 

Perhaps  at  this  time  I  may  add,  how  glad  I  am 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


139 


that  our  friend,  Miss  Lilian  Whiting  is  writing 
the  book  of  our  combined  lives.  So  many  times 
you  have  felt  that  all  had  not  been  said  for  me, 
and  you  have  wished  that  the  hand  of  the  clock  of 
your  life  had  been  turned  back  that  you  might 
write  and  work  more  for  me.  I  thank  you  for  the 
wish  to  do  this ;  and  I  know,  some  day,  others  will 
arise  to  say  what  is  needed,  if  it  be  needed,  in  the 
world. 

I  used  to  think  that  God  sent  his  agents  into  the 
world  to  keep  his  purpose  clean  and  sweet  for 
the  people ;  but  I  did  not  think  it  was  done  in  this 
natural  and  normal  way  that  you  and  I  are  talking 
to-day. 

I  am  not  through  yet. 

America  has  always  appealed  to  me;  and  I 

think,  perhaps,  I  have  more  appreciative  readers 

in  Boston  than  in  London.  It  is  hard  to  arouse  an 

old  and  steady-going  public  into  enthusiasm  over 

any  new  and  unusual  work. 

Oh,  how  I  love  to  lift  my  face  to  God’s  bright  stars, 

And  learn  my  lesson  there, 

How  calm  and  still  above  life’s  jars 
They  float  in  ambient  air, 

And  through  the  dark  which  makes  their  light  shine  ever  more 
and  more, 

1  catch  the  tracing  of  God’s  hand  that  holds  them  to  his  shore. 


140 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


That  is  only  a  thought  which  I  try  to  express. 

I  think  my  prose  is  better  than  my  rhyme,  this 
time;  but  my  thought  was  to  write  through  you 
something  longer  and  more  beautiful  in  verse.  I 
will  do  it  some  day.  Elizabeth  wants  to  speak  to 
you  now. 

Robert  Browning. 

The  Control :  She  clasps  her  hands  together  in 
an  enthusiastic  way,  and  smiles,  as  she  begins  to 
talk  to  you. 

ELIZABETH  BARRETT  BROWNING. 

0,  dear,  dear,  Dr.  Corson,  I  am  so  happy  I  can 
hardly  tell  it  in  words.  Robert  is  so  good,  so  no¬ 
ble,  and  I  am  so  glad  to  have  him  with  me;  but  I 
still  have  a  little  lonely  chamber  in  my  heart  for 
my  boy.  And  I  often  think  if  he  would  only  open 
the  doors  for  me,  as  your  son  does  for  his  mother, 
I  should  not  be  so  lonely.  I  do  get  very  much  joy 
from  just  being  beside  him,  at  times ;  but  it  does 
seem  as  if  I  could  not  wait  to  have  this  truth  be¬ 
come  a  universal  knowledge,  so  that  we  mothers 
would  feel  no  sensation  of  aloofness  when  we  come 
over  here,  and  leave  our  babies  in  the  world. 


ELIZABETH  BARRETT  BROWNING 


141 


There  is  more  than  just  a  joy  in  being  able  to 
speak  to  people  still  in  the  body. 

There  is  a  great  field  for  usefulness.  I  am  a 
sort  of  utilitarian,  after  all,  you  see;  and  I  would 
like  to  mend  all  these  broken  threads  in  the  gar¬ 
ment  of  life,  and  let  God’s  love  shine  through  the 
perfect  whole  until  the  world  is  radiantly  happy, 
and  through  its  happiness,  comes  its  best  expres¬ 
sion. 

It  is  practical  and  sensible  to  believe  in  the 
complete  life;  and  it  would  revolutionize  the  art 
of  living  if  computations  could  he  made  of  the 
effort,  the  money,  the  time,  that  are  put  into  that 
great  casket  of  universal  death.  The  figures 
would  he  stupendous,  and  all  thinking  men  and 
women  would  rise  to  stay  the  evil. 

So,  don’t  you  see  that  every  time  we  help  some 
one  to  come  out  from  under  the  shadow  of  death, 
we  have  made  a  better  citizen,  a  better  lover  of 
God,  and  a  more  perfect  soul ;  and  all  the  dirges 
and  psalm  tunes  would  soon  be  lost  in  a  grand 
paean  of  joy  and  victory.  Up,  up,  up,  must  the 
soul  ever  soar ;  and  every  thing  which  we  may  do 
to  turn  the  eye  of  the  spirit  toward  the  heavenly 


142 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


heights,  brings  the  kingdom  of  God  nearer  to  the 
grey  old  world. 

Your  wife  is  such  a  lovely  personality,  and  so 
fond  of  all  poetic  expressions;  and  I  whisper  to 
you  that  the  boy  who  is  left,  your  boy,  has  a  touch 
of  that  divine  tire  in  his  soul ;  and  all  those  vibrant 
tones  of  melody  which  poets  only  sing,  find  re¬ 
sponse  in  his  heart.  He  sometimes  thinks  that  he 
is  a  hard-headed  business  man  working  in  his  pro¬ 
fession  in  a  most  practical  way,  and  this  is  true 
of  a  part  of  him ;  but  his  spirit  is  not  dormant,  nor 
entranced  and  held  in  bondage  by  material  condi¬ 
tions,  for  all  through  his  life  is  running  a  little 
brook  of  spiritual  inspiration  whose  waters  leap 
and  dance  in  joy  whenever  the  sunlight  falls  upon 
them,  and  on  whose  bank  sweet  violets  grow,  and 
mosses  green  with  blue  forget-me-nots  make 
beauty  everywhere. 

The  Control:  That’s  the  little  stream  of  spirit¬ 
ual  life,  isn’t  it? 

It  is  most  gratifying  to  find  him  as  he  is;  but 
about  his  special  gifts,  and  psychic  powers,  I  will 
let  his  mother  or  his  guides  speak  to  you  some 
other  day. 


ELIZABETH  BARRETT  BROWNING 


143 


I  fear  I  ought  not  to  stay  any  longer  now,  but 
I  shall  come  again,  this  week,  if  I  may. 

Tell  Miss  Whiting  that  I  sometimes  feel  as  if 
I  were  in  her  body,  so  readily  do  I  fuse  with  her 
spirit.  And  sometimes  when  her  hand  is  writing, 
and  her  eyes  suddenly  fall  upon  it,  she  is  im¬ 
pressed  with  how  much  it  looks  like  mine,  and  yet 
she  would  never  dare  to  speak  of  this.  It  seems 
to  her  so  egotistical  to  think  so ;  but  it  is  true.  My 
hand  is  on  hers,  and  almost  transfigures  it.  She 
will  understand. 

Elizabeth  B.  Browning. 

21  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

JOSEPH  CORSON. 

Dear  father,  so  much  loved  by  each  of  us,  so 
revered  by  me,  I  want  to  bring  you  a  message,  to¬ 
day.  If  I  could  tell  you  all  the  wonderful  things 
I  see,  the  wonderful  knowledge  we  obtain  by  con¬ 
tact  with  spirits  from  the  wisdom  sphere,  or  the 
wonderful  love  we  feel  as  we  come  into  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  spirits  from  the  Love  sphere,  you  would 
feel  that  we  had  been  well  cared  for  and  well 
taught  during  our  growth  in  the  spirit  land. 


144 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  am  so  glad  I  had  birth  in  the  Earth  life;*  it 
gave  me  a  start  toward  the  progressive  life  which 
comes  only  to  souls  born  of  love. 

I  hear  so  many  theories  of  life,  its  beginning, 
and  its  limitations,  that  I  am  surprised;  for  life 
seems  to  have  no  beginning,  and  no  limitations 
except  as  man  imagines  or  creates  them.  We  are 
so  free,  it  is  like  an  elective  course  in  college.  We 
follow  our  desires,  and  learn  through  the  fulfil¬ 
ment  of  them  what  is  best  for  us.  Of  the  First 
Great  Cause,  the  primal  expression,  I  know  no 
more  than  you.  I  only  know  I  am  not  concerned 
about  it ;  and  it  is  ludicrous  to  see  men  and  women 
spending  lives  and  energies  in  a  pursuit  after 
knowledge  of  the  unknowable.  The  laws  which 
govern  the  places  where  one  stays  may  be  under¬ 
stood,  and  after  that,  everything  of  importance 
may  be  understood  through  coming  into  harmony 
with  the  governing  law.  I  mean  by  everything 
the  day  by  day  knowledge  which  lifts  the  soul  out 
of  the  region  of  uselessness  into  sublime  heights 
of  service. 

*  He  was  but  about  a  month  in  the  physical  body;  born 
Feb.  24,  1857. 


JOSEPH  CORSON 


145 


We  consider  Mr.  Whitman  a  seer,  a  prophet,  a 
diviner  of  hidden  meanings  of  life;  and  he  is  al¬ 
ways  surprised  when  we  express  ourselves  in  that 
way,  because  lie  expects  that  every  soul  knows  and 
sees  what  lie  knows  and  sees.  That  is  why  he  suf¬ 
fered  with  heart  ache  and  sorrow;  for  he  sang  his 
songs  blithely  and  freely  and  expected  men  would 
know  and  understand  his  spirit.  And  when  they 
did  not,  it  chilled  him  like  night  falling  too  soon 
on  the  feathered  songster  of  the  forest. 

[I  praised  what  he  said  of  Whitman.] 

Thank  you,  father,  for  your  appreciative  word. 
I  long  to  speak  perfectly  and  understandingly  of 
him  who  was  and  is  your  friend,  and  is  our  teacher 
and  companion.  He  is  standing  beside  me  as  I 
dictate  this  message  to  you,  and  the  tears  come  in¬ 
to  his  eyes;*  but  they  only  make  them  shine  more 
brightly  and  give  me  the  assurance  that  I  have 
touched  his  heart. 

Are  you  not  glad,  dear  father,  that  the  poets 
have  immortal  power?  They  are  so  much  more  im¬ 
portant  in  the  world  than  the  mathematicians,  at 

*  Only  an  Earthly  mode  of  expression,  as  the  control  ex¬ 
plained  it. 


11 


1 46 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


least  I  think  so ;  but  Mr.  Whitman  smiles  and  says, 
if  there  were  no  mathematicians,  the  poets  would 
starve.  Perhaps  you  know  what  he  means. 

Mr.  Whitman  was  so  concerned  and  troubled 
over  his  message,*  the  other  day,  that  we  came  to¬ 
gether,  to-day,  to  express  a  few  of  our  tenderest 
feelings  of  him  to  you. 

I  think  I  will  say  no  more  now,  because  Mr. 
Longfellow  desires  to  speak  to  you.  He  is  so  ge¬ 
nial,  so  sunny,  that  I  am  sure  you  will  have  a  beau¬ 
tiful  time  with  him.  With  love,  your  son  in  the 
spirit  sphere, 

Joseph  Corson. 

HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW. 

I  have  asked  permission  to  come  to  you,  this 
afternoon.  A  week  ago,  to-day,  you  stood  in  my 
study,**  and  the  rooms  where  you  went  have  pos¬ 
sessed  a  new  atmosphere  since  that  time.  It  is 
true  I  often  go  there,  but  I  feel  sometimes  like  the 
grandpa  by  the  fireside  who  sits  and  thinks  of 
other  days  in  a  dead  past.  But  I  am  happy  to  say 

*  There  appeared  to  be  some  disturbance  of  the  conditions 
at  the  seance  when  he  gave  his  message.  The  thought  and 
language  were  somewhat  confused. 

**  In  the  Craigie  House,  in  Cambridge. 


HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW 


147 


that  the  active,  interested,  and  conscious  expres¬ 
sion  to  you,  at  that  time,  gave  me  a  more  definite 
and  present-day  feeling. 

America  is  a  wonderful  country  in  its  possibili¬ 
ties  for  romance  and  picture,  in  story  and  song. 
But  many  of  our  poets  have  confined  themselves 
to  expressions  of  the  reformer  and  of  society,  and 
the  little  every-day  occurrences  that  do  nothing 
except  pass  time  away,  or  sound  a  bugle  note. 

You  know  how  I  love  the  sound  of  the  singing 
song,  that  combination  of  words  and  measure 
which  flows  into  the  memory  and  sings  on  and  on 
forever. 

I  find  so  much  among  the  Indians  over  here 
that  is  great  and  noble,  pathetic  and  sweet,  cun¬ 
ning  and  shrewd,  weaving  itself  all  into  a  wonder¬ 
ful  story  of  aboriginal  life,  and  I  think  sometimes 
if  I  had  this  knowledge  added  to  my  love  of  the 
Indian  race,  I  might  have  sung  more  enduring 
songs  than  Hiawatha  or  Evangeline,  or  my 
Legends  of  New  England  life. 

I  believe,  friend  Corson,  that  no  one  knows  so 
well  the  imperfections  of  his  work  as  the  poet  him¬ 
self.  It  all  sounds  so  simple  and  so  easy  after  it 


148 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


is  arranged  that  the  average  critic  has  no  sense 
of  the  time  and  thought  spent  in  making  the  per¬ 
fect  couplet  or  the  undying  sonnet. 

I  admire  Tennyson  so  much,  more  than  I  can 
tell  you;  and  our  intercourse  with  you,  aside  from 
our  common  interest  in  letters,  has  brought  about 
a  friendship  so  strong  that  I  am  proud  and  happy 
in  it. 

I  confess  to  you  that  I  had  an  inexpressible  de¬ 
sire  to  know  more  and  more  of  letters.  At  one 
time,  my  poetry  was  secondary  in  my  desires ;  but 
I  believe  now  that  I  was  urged  on  to  express,  as  I 
did,  by  spirits  who  saw  the  need  of  that  sort  of  ex¬ 
pression  in  America,  and  my  adaptability  to  their 
message.  We  are  all  mediums  in  degree,  but  we 
do  not  all  know  it. 

You  remember  Hawthorne.  He  has  never 
spoken  to  you  from  the  spirit;  but  he  desires  to, 
and  begs  me  to  offer  you  his  greetings,  and  say 
to  you  that  it  gives  him  delight  to  come  here  with 
the  other  good  friends  of  yours  who  are  here. 

Longfellow. 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 


14  9 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE. 

This  is  beautiful,  and  yet  not  strange  to  me,  for 
often  in  the  past,  I  have  been  perfectly  conscious 
of  my  power  to  draw  near  to  my  friends  at  will, 
and  to  use  certain  powers  for  their  helpfulness, 
or,  otherwise,  if  I  had  been  inclined. 

I,  too,  loved  Florence  like  many  of  your  other 
friends;  but  there  was  something  in  sturdy  New 
England  which  gave  me  the  best  inspiration,  and 
brought  me  the  best  credit  for  work. 

There  is  one  book  you  have  not  mentioned* 
which  was  always  dear  to  me,  and  one  I  had  a 
strange  fascination  for,  ‘The  Marble  Faun.’  It 
is  unlike  my  other  books.  It  might  almost  have 
been  written  by  another  person. 

Of  all  your  friends,  perhaps  no  one  was  more 
definitely  a  psychic  or  medium  than  I.  I  did  not 
know  at  the  time  what  the  influences  meant.  But 
I  used  to  find  it  almost  impossible  to  take  my  place 

*  When  I  welcomed  him,  and  expressed  my  pleasure  at 
his  visit  to  the  stance,  I  spoke  of  my  admiration  of  his  ‘Scar¬ 
let  Letter’  and  ‘The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables,’  and  of  the 
choral  atmosphere  in  which  each  was  enveloped,  as  exhibiting 
his  great  artistic  power.  But  I  did  not  mention  ‘The  Marble 
Faun.’ 


150 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


with  people  and  be  as  I  should  in  my  intercourse 
with  them.  A  story  would  haunt  me  for  days  and 
months,  and  then  suddenly  I  would  begin  to  write, 
and  the  whole  plot  and  story  was  in  my  mind,  and 
I  could  not  write  quickly  enough.  It  was  like  a 
torrent  that  I  could  not  stay;  and  when  it  was 
done  I  would  be  exhausted  and  almost  ill.  I  was 
not  proud  of  it,  but  I  had  no  control  over  it 

I  am  happy  with  my  dear  one.  Such  love  as  we 
had  for  each  other  seems  more  than  ordinary  to 
me.  The  appreciation  which  she  gave  me  was  my 
support  and  buoyed  me  up  through  days  of  dis¬ 
couragement.* 

My  friend,  Mr.  Longfellow,  was  a  friend  through 
all  the  struggles  of  those  days,  when  I  worked  and 
worked  and  seemed  to  get  no  recognition. 

I  am  talking  a  great  deal  about  myself ;  but  it  is 
so  pleasant  to  recall  the  past  and  to  talk  with  you 
about  some  of  the  experiences  long  since  forgot¬ 
ten  until  now. 

We  all  owe  you  more  than  we  can  tell,  for  the 

*  His  marriage  with  Sophia  Peabody  was  a  happily  and 
beautifully  assorted  one,  and  equaled,  in  that  respect,  the 
marriage  of  Robert  Browning  with  Elizabeth  Barrett,  which 
is  certainly  the  most  that  can  be  said  of  it. 


NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 


151 


careful  and  critical  and  appreciative  expressions 
of  our  work.* 

Such  men  as  you  who  understand  our  work  and 
effort,  and  make  it  the  effort  of  your  life  to  teach 
people  how  to  read  us,  are  rare,  and  we  remember 
and  are  grateful  for  any  one  who  shows  such 
knowledge  of  our  spirit. 

I  think  ‘  The  Scarlet  Letter  ’  was  written  by  some 
other  spirit,  just  as  definitely  as  I,  to-day,  am  able 
to  use  another  personality  to  express  myself  to 
you.  But  that  is  of  little  consequence  if  the  work 
that  is  done  proves  of  some  value  in  the  world  of 
books. 

I  would  send  many  words  of  gladness  to  you 
that  I  have  been  able  to  become  a  part  of  this  com¬ 
pany  in  your  room  to-day. 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 

The  Control:  Your  wife  comes  so  close  to  you 
and  puts  her  hand  on  your  own,  and  says : 

I  am  so  glad  to  have  you  made  happy  by  the 
messages  from  dear  Hawthorne.  I,  too,  loved  his 
‘Scarlet  Letter,’  and  never  thought  it  a  strange 
story,  hut  a  wonderful  one. 

*  The  allusion  Is  to  my  presentation  of  their  works  as  a 
professor  of  English  Literature  for  nearly  half  a  century. 


152 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


There  are  many  who  seek  you  and  would  be  glad 
to  come ;  but  we  can  only  have  now  and  then  a  new 
communicator. 

I  am  going  to  try  and  have  Dr.  Mott  come  to¬ 
morrow.  He  was  very  much  pleased  that  you 
asked  him  to  come,  and  will  try,  tomorrow,  to  ex¬ 
press  himself  for  Eugene. 

Paulie  is  here  with  me,  and  Emil,  and  they  both 
want  me  to  say  to  you,  ‘papa  dear,  we  are  just  as 
faithful  to  you  as  if  we  took  all  the  time,  and  we 
want  you  to  know  that  we  are  only  waiting  so  that 
some  of  these  interesting  friends  may  tell  you  of 
their  friendship  for  you’. 

I  hope,  Hiram,  that  after  you  go  back,  I  may  be 
able  to  send  you  a  message,  or  else  arrange,  by 
and  bye,  for  this  medium  to  go  to  you. 

Allston  street,  house  No.  6.*  High  double  steps 
of  stone,  with  iron  railings,  go  up  on  each  side,  and 
a  little  railing  divides  the  top  stone  in  the  middle 


*  I  had  asked  whether  she  remembered  the  house  in  Bos¬ 
ton  in  which  we  were  married.  I  wished  to  visit  it.  I  had 
myself  no  recollection  of  it.  We  were  married  by  Dr.  Cush¬ 
man,  Sept.  13,  1854.  I  went,  after  the  seance,  to  the  Boston 
public  library,  and  consulted  the  City  Directory  of  that  year, 
and  found  that  the  Rev.  Robert  Cushman  lived  at  No.  6,  Alls¬ 
ton  St. 


CAROLINE  CORSON 


153 


between  the  two  entrances.  Dr.  Cushman  had,  at 
first,  the  whole  double  house  for  his  young  ladies’ 
school.  It  is  now  used  as  a  lodging  house,  and 
there’s  a  tailor  shop  below.  It  is  near  the  State 
House.*  I  was  interested,  too,  in  the  old  church.  ** 
How  strange  it  looks!  How  peculiar  to  have  the 
church  divided  into  little  sections  ***  with  seats  all 
around.  I  am  glad  you  went  there,  for  the  novelty 
of  seeing  a  church  in  such  a  vicinity  pleased  me. 
Did  you  hear  the  sparrows  outside  the  church? 
[No.] 

I  don’t  care  for  old  cemeteries,  although  it  was 
the  place  where  the  bodies  of  Benjamin  Franklin’s 
father  and  mother  were  put  away.  But  that  did 
not  mean  so  much  to  me  as  the  old  church.****  Is 
not  the  subway  wonderful? 

*  I  found  this  description  of  the  house  to  be  all  perfectly 
correct,  even  as  to  its  being  a  lodging  house;  the  word 
‘Rooms’  was  on  the  wall.  In  1854,  this  was  a  well  inhabited 
street  of  the  city. 

**  King’s  Chapel,  built  in  1754. 

***  By  ‘sections’  she  meant  the  large  square  pews  with 
seats  on  three  sides  of  the  squares. 

****  rpjjg  ^  cemetery  alluded  to  is  that  near  King’s  Chapel, 
used  as  a  burial  place  as  early  as  1630.  There  is  a  large  mon¬ 
ument  to  Franklin’s  father  and  mother.  My  wife  must  have 
read  the  inscription,  when  we  were  there  (Miss  Lilian  Whiting 
and  myself),  on  our  way  to  King’s  Chapel.  We  were  accom¬ 
panied  in  our  visits  to  the  places  mentioned  in  the  message, 
by  my  wife,  daughter,  and  sons,  and  other  members  of  the 
Spirit  Band.  They  saw  all  that  we  saw,  and  more  too. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  54 

Now  good  night,  dear,  and  tomorrow  we  come 
again. 

22  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

At  the  opening  of  this  seance,  I  read  to  my  wife 
the  letter  to  her  of  our  son,  Dr.  Eugene  Rollin 
Corson,  which  he  wrote  in  reply  to  his  mother’s 
message  to  him.  The  following  is  her  message  in 
reply. 

I  love  Eugene  and  all  his  dear  ones,  and  am  glad 
that  my  message  gave  him  joy.  I  felt  the  joy  was 
mine;  and  it  is  little  when  I  think  of  the  many 
times  I  am  in  his  home,  and  able  to  see  him  wher¬ 
ever  he  goes.  I  find  it  hard  to  realize  that  he  is 
not  as  conscious  of  me  as  I  am  of  his  life  and  pur¬ 
suits. 

I  don ’t  want  the  children  to  forget  their  grand¬ 
ma,  for  I  want  them  to  grow  up  with  that  con¬ 
sciousness  of  the  intimate  relation  of  spirit  loved 
ones  with  those  still  on  Earth.  And  sometimes 
there  may  be  great  help  given  them,  if  they  under¬ 
stood  that  their  thought  helps  to  make  the  bridge 
over  which  we  come  to  serve  them. 


Carrie. 


VALENTINE  MOTT 


155 


My  wife  brought  Dr.  Valentine  Mott  to  this 
seance,  that  he  might  give  a  message  to  be  sent  to 
our  son. 

Dear  Dr.  Eugene  Corson:  It  has  been  a  long 
time  since  I  attempted  to  express  through  words 
my  interest  in  you;*  but  never  for  an  interest  has 
my  care  been  remitted,  or  my  interest  in  your  pro¬ 
fessional  life  abated.  Not  all  professional  men  re¬ 
tain  an  interest  in  the  life-work  from  which  they 
are  called  when  they  enter  the  higher  life.  But  I 
have  yet  to  find  anything  of  more  devouring  in¬ 
terest  than  the  profession  which  was  mine,  and  is 
yours,  and  in  which  we  are  mutually  concerned, 
not  only  for  the  daily  rise  and  fall  of  human  life, 
but  for  the  great  strides  forward  which  the  men 
at  the  head  have  made. 

It  used  to  be  our  purpose  to  alleviate  pain  and 
make  death  as  easy  as  possible.  Now  we  are  try¬ 
ing  to  oust  death  from  his  stronghold  in  the  hu¬ 
man  family,  and  not  only  alleviate  pain  but  fit  men 
to  express  all  that  is  in  them.  I  believe  that  no 
man  can  perfectly  express  the  highest  gifts  within 

*  He  received  messages  from  Dr.  Mott,  a  few  years  ago, 
through  the  mediumship  of  Mrs.  Mayer,  of  New  York  city, 
recently  deceased. 


156 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


him,  in  an  imperfect  body ;  and  the  sooner  we  medi¬ 
cal  men  recognize  this,  we  shall  understand  that 
sin  is  a  disease,  and  must  be  treated  by  the  medi¬ 
cal  profession  instead  of  cajoled  by  the  pulpit, 
punished  by  the  barrister,  or  forgiven  by  the  Son 
of  Man  hanging  on  a  cross. 

I  have  long  felt  a  desire  to  express  myself  on 
this  especial  theme ;  and  I  would  like  nothing  bet¬ 
ter  than  to  take  a  part  of  each  year  to  study  the 
health  conditions  and  the  physical  structures  of 
the  criminal  classes. 

All  sorts  of  instruments  to  save  the  early  tor¬ 
ture  of  the  sick  and  ill,  have  been  invented  since 
1  came  over  here.  Many  discoveries  have  been 
put  into  operation,  from  the  pressing  of  the 
thumb  and  forefinger  on  certain  parts  of  the  body 
to  lessen  the  pulsation  at  the  particular  spot,  and 
relieve  the  pain,  to  the  powerful  anaesthetics  which 
put  to  sleep  the  patient,  and  allow  the  skilful  op¬ 
erator  undisputed  sway  of  the  diseased  portion. 

Our  clumsy  mechanics,  in  operating  on  the  body, 
were  but  the  beginnings  of  a  marvelous  epoch  of 
healing  and  saving  the  diseased  ones. 

I  am  pleased  at  the  recognition  you  have  given 


VALENTINE  MOTT 


157 


me  in  your  home ;  for  I  am  indeed  your  guide  and 
helper ;  and  while  I  have  very  little  interest  in  any 
recognition  which  the  world  may  give,  still  I  be¬ 
lieve  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire;  and  1  want 
you  to  have  what  recognition  belongs  to  you  for 
your  faithfulness  and  unswerving  devotion  to  the 
call  of  duty. 

I  say  over  and  over  again  the  world  is  mad.  It 
chases  its  idols,  captures  them,  sets  them  on  the 
pinnacles  of  fame,  and  then,  one  day,  in  childish 
rage,  knocks  them  to  pieces  for  their  impotence. 

How  stupid,  how  ungrateful,  and  how  little,  to 
urge  a  man  to  keep  moving  on  in  his  work  for  the 
world’s  release.  There  must  be  something  deeper 
than  an  ear  attuned  to  the  world’s  plaudits;  an 
inner  conviction  that  nothing  in  the  world  is  so 
important  and  demanding  as  the  cry  of  need. 
That  is  what  you  have,  dear  boy,  an  intense  desire 
to  do  well  the  thing  you  have  started  to  do;  and 
my  hand  and  heart  is  with  you. 

I  like  to  see  the  American  ‘get  there’  once  in  a 
while,  and  not  have  all  the  discoveries  brought 
across  the  water  for  the  profession  on  this  side. 

I  have  been  interested  in  stovaine.  It  has  not 


158 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


yet  been  demonstrated  to  me  that  it  will  do  all 
that  is  claimed  for  it ;  and  I  am  doubtful  if  opera¬ 
tions  performed  on  a  conscious  patient,  even 
though  that  patient  suffered  no  pain,  would  be 
successful  in  all  kinds  of  work.  The  conscious¬ 
ness  of  what  is  going  on  would  bring  a  nervous 
tension  that  might  react  for  the  worse.  And  yet 
I  realize  that  the  fear  of  becoming  unconscious  un¬ 
der  the  influence  of  anaesthetics,  often  produces 
deleterious  effect. 

Patients  must  always  have  complete  confidence 
in  physicians  for  perfect  and  successful  perfor¬ 
mances. 

All  this  seems  so  far  away  from  the  real  father¬ 
ly  interest  which  I  feel  for  you,  that  I  am  inclined 
to  apologize;  and  yet  I  am  sure  that  you  will  be 
pleased  to  know  that  I  am  not  stupidly  ignoring 
the  advancement  and  the  effort  at  advancement 
which  is  constantly  going  on. 

I  am  always  pleased  when  you  look  at  the  books 
which  contain  certain  extracts  about  me ;  and 
when  you  look  at  the  pictures,  and  say  to  your¬ 
self,  ‘I  need  you  very  much,  to-day,  I  hope  you  can 
be  with  me.’  I  try  especially  to  go  with  you  at 


VALENTINE  MOTT 


159 


such  times;  but  many,  many  times,  when  you  are 
not  thinking  definitely  of  me  I  am  there. 

[The  Control:  He  stops  to  think,  right  now.] 

T  had  a  long  life;  and  if  I  had  lived  twice  as 
long,  I  could  have  used  every  moment  of  the  time 
to  good  advantage. 

[The  Control :  He  stops  right  there  and  says:] 

I  want  to  say  more,  but  my  strength  is  gone.  I 
will  come  to  you  again  some  other  time. 

Valentine  Mott. 

Doctor,  I  shall  be  here  another  week.  Perhaps 
you  can  come  some  day  within  that  time. 

The  Control:  He  replied,  ‘I  will  try.’ 

The  Control:  There’s  the  spirit  of  a  woman.  1 
think  she  is  your  sister.  She  comes  forward  with 
your  mother  and  she  says : 

I  think  there  is  no  happier  family  in  all  the 
spirit  spheres  than  ours.  The  light  of  truth  shines 
into  our  home  and  gives  us  all  the  joy  that  sun¬ 
shine  brings. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


160 

Mother  is  the  same  dear  mother  whom  you 
knew,  always  unselfishly  looking  after  the  rest, 
and  finding  her  peace  in  the  goodness  of  her  chil¬ 
dren. 

You  remember  how,  when  we  were  small,  she 
always  expected  us  to  be  truthful  and  upright, 
and  without  fear ;  and  how  our  uncles  were  spoken 
of  with  such  pride,  much  like  this:  Your  uncle  Hi¬ 
ram  was  a  most  excellent  man,  or,  your  uncle  Wil¬ 
liam  took  a  stand  against  slavery. 

Our  people  were  a  sort  of  Saints’  Calendar  to 
which  we  were  referred ;  and  we  were  expected  to 
uphold  the  family  dignity,  and  be  as  good  as  they. 
And  to-day  mother  says  she  has  no  sorrow  for 
anything  her  children  did.  While  they  each  kept 
an  independent  spirit,  they  were  most  dutiful  and 
lovely. 

I  wish  I  cold  tell  you  of  the  blessed  evenings 
we  have,  not  evenings  such  as  you  have  in  your 
life,  but  the  quiet  time  that  comes  between  one 
duty  and  another,  wherein  we  rest  and  refresh  our 
spirits  in  friendly  conversation  and  quiet  uplift¬ 
ing  communion. 


CLARA  CORSON  SHOLL 


l6i 


We  usually  take  that  time  for  rest  when  our 
friends  are  resting  in  the  Earth  life;  for  when 
they  are  active,  in  the  dangerous  pursuits  of 
physical  life,  we  draw  very  near  to  them  for  their 
help  and  protection.  So  you  see,  we  have  a  sort 
of  a  night  here.  It  isn’t  going  to  sleep,  shutting 
up  the  sense  realm  as  you  do,  hut  a  time  when  no 
demanding  labors  are  thought  of.  Our  heaven 
is  not  a  place  of  eternal  sleep  and  rest,  but  an  ac¬ 
tive  life  of  love  and  service. 

I  fear  I  am  staying  too  long,  dear;  hut  we  all 
come  again  tomorrow. 

Clara  Corson  Sholl. 

23  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  I  see  Mr.  Tennyson  turn  and 
bow  to  your  wife  and  family,  as  he  steps  into  the 
aura  of  your  personality.  Then,  with  very  great 
earnestness  he  assures  you  of  the  deep  gratitude 
he  feels  for  this  opportunity. 

ALFRED  TENNYSON. 

We  are  a  company  of  spirits  interested  not  only 
in  the  finest  expression  of  the  aspirations  of  men 

12 


162 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


and  women,  but  in  the  power*  that  touches  men 
and  women  and  sets  their  aspirations  aflame. 

A  poet  must  speak  from  the  depth  of  his  being; 
and  the  best  songs  he  sings  are  those  that  are  born 

in  experience. 

Sometimes  for  months  before  I  could  write  a 
line,  the  essence  of  my  poem  was  in  my  heart,  and 
kept  flowing  up,  flowing  up,  until  it  touched  my 
brain,  and  then  I  began  to  write.  Then  there  were 
other  occasions  when  an  event  would  produce  an 
effect  of  unlocked  doors  to  some  hidden  chamber, 
and  there  would  rush  forth  little  fragrant  songs 
that  had  to  find  the  light  of  day  through  my  help. 

Not  always  are  the  most  studied  and  the  longest 
pondered-over  verses  the  best.  But  there  are  ten¬ 
drils  and  roots  to  the  plant  of  poetry,  and  they 
find  nourishment  out  of  sight  in  the  soil  of  the 
spirit,  and  grow  all  unconscious  until  at  last  the 
flower-time  comes,  and  the  blossom  is  fragrant 
and  sweet. 

Sorrow  has  ever  been  a  theme  for  the  versifier ; 
and  goodness,  ideal  goodness,  has  always  found 


*  Poetic  power. 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


1 63 


its  lovers  among  men  who  could  sing  its  praises 
in  r Inane. 

I  sometimes  think,  if  I  were  to  return  to  Earth 
again,  I  would  make  my  life  the  life  of  a  poet,  just 
as  before,  only  more  complete  and  perfect. 

I  love  the  Nature  scenes,  the  trees,  the  hills,  the 
crags,  the  sea;  they  talk  to  me,  and  my  answers 
are  my  songs. 

I  feel  that  I  am  talking  too  much  about  what  I 
felt;  but  you  know,  my  friend,  when  one  speaks 
in  intimate  terms  to  one  whose  spirit  is  respon¬ 
sive,  it  is  not  of  commonplace  things  he  speaks, 
but  of  those  feelings  and  throbbings  of  his  heart 
and  spirit  which  alone  make  him  what  he  is.  I 
have  little  patience  with  ordinary  conversation. 
It  is  belittling;  it  drags  men  from  the  heights,  and 
is  no  good  to  any  one.  And  I  care  very  little  for 
any  reputation  I  may  have  gained  for  either  good 
or  bad  conversational  powers;  and  sometimes 
when  I  seemed  surly  and  churlish,  when  the  in¬ 
quisitive  and  curious  tried  to  make  me  open  my 
mouth,  and  say  words,  it  was  only  because  I  had 
nothing  to  say;  and  having  nothing  to  say,  how 
could  I  say  it? 


1 64. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


YV  ith  my  family  and  my  dear  ones,  I  am  sure 
there  was  no  feeling  of  restraint,  but  we  talked 
our  love  idylls  in  love’s  own  familiar  language. 
And  if  we  talked  by  by  and  day  day,  and  that  sort 
of  talk,  to  the  little  fellows,  it  was  because  that 
expressed  our  tenderness  and  our  stooping  devo¬ 
tion  to  their  dear  little  intellects. 

You  know  well  enough,  from  your  intimacy 
with  my  lines,  that  I  desired  always  to  have  men 
keep  before  them  a  picture  of  the  lofty  life,  and 
the  noble  times;  and  yet  I  wanted  their  hearts 
soothed  by  any  tender  little  murmur  of  running 
brook,  or  whisper  of  nodding  violet,  that  might 
be  borne  to  their  tired  ears. 

What  am  I  doing  over  here?  Oh,  so  much,  to  as¬ 
sure  myself  that  the  knights  and  ladies,  the  beauti¬ 
ful  and  strong  and  lovely,  are  not  all  of  the  olden 
tune,  but  are  living  in  your  world,  fighting  their 
battles  for  truth  with  the  same  ardor  as  the  vel¬ 
vet-clothed  youths  of  the  golden  days  for  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  blithesome  maids  they  loved. 

I  do  not  claim  to  be  a  reformer.  I  like  strength 
without  reformation.  And,  indeed,  strength  is 
reformation,  for  weakness  makes  men  fall,  and 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


165 


women  stumble,  and  blots  out  tlie  picture  of  good¬ 
ness  and  power. 

I  have  been  in  your  little  circles  at  your  home, 
with  the  blessed  company  of  kindred  spirits,  many 
times  in  the  past,  and  I  always  feel  it  is  a  privilege 
to  be  allowed,  or,  rather,  invited,  to  sit  down  in  a 
man’s  castle,  and  commune  with  him,  as  we  have 
done  with  you. 

Sometimes,  when  some  of  the  friends  have 
spoken  of  your  loneliness,  and  the  joy  it  would  be 
for  you  to  close  the  doors  of  the  cottage,  set  the 
house  in  order,  and  start  out  upon  the  journey 
through  the  spirit  spheres  with  your  waiting  dar¬ 
lings,  I  have  said,  oh,  he’s  not  so  lonely  that  he 
needs  to  begin  to  think  about  coming  over  here. 
A  man  at  84  doesn’t  feel  much  older  than  at  70. 
He  has  a  few  more  limitations,  may  have  to  look 
out  for  draughts,  nurse  the  gout,  tie  his  kerchief  a 
little  tighter  around  his  withered  neck,  when  he 
faces  the  sleet;  but  there’s  a  good  deal  of  juice 
left  in  the  fruit  yet,  and,  with  an  active  spirit,  he 
can  puff  his  cares  away  with  a  few  whiffs  from  his 
loved  pipe,  and  float  in  fancy  back  into  the  past, 
and  enjoy  his  life. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


1 66 

I  would  have  been  glad  to  live  until  I  was  90, 
and  I  was  older  a  little,  when  I  went  away,  than 
you  are  now.  I  had  a  great  many  things  to  be 
happy  over.  My  friends  were  so  kind,  and  so  gen¬ 
erous. 

Lady  Tennyson  is  with  me,  and  sends  greetings 
to  you,  and  would  suggest  that  the  beauty  and  joy 
of  the  spirit  life  for  her  is  greatly  augmented  be¬ 
cause  she  can  have  me  to  herself,  once  in  a  while, 
without  demands  extraordinary  from  the  people 
and  the  queen. 

The  queen  is  courtly  yet  simple;  a  woman  with 
all  her  qneenliness,  a  queen  with  all  her  womanli¬ 
ness;  and  the  happiness  which  she  enjoys  in  the 
realm  where  her  consort  dwells  with  her,  and  all 
her  children  and  friends  are  able  to  have  free  and 
familiar  intercourse  with  her,  is  beautiful  to  see. 

I  am  surprised  that  many  of  my  poems  are 
still  in  favor ;  and  I  had  hoped  we  might  have  some 
stronger  laureate  arise  before  this. 

The  most  remarkable  thing  about  it  all  is,  how 
did  he*  get  there?  Certainly  not  by  merit.  And 
when  positions  of  honor,  which  should  be  abso- 


*  Alfred  Austin. 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


lt>7 


lutely  honorable,  become  commerce  in  political 
centres,  the  laurel  no  longer  brings  joy  to  the 
heart  of  the  man  who  would  write  his  best  for  his 
country  and  his  king.  Watson,  what  of  William 
Watson?  What  a  pity  he  wrote  ‘The  Woman  with 
the  Serpent’s  Tongue.’  Perhaps  he  may  yet  be 
able  to  redeem  himself. 

All  genius  is  akin  to  madness,  from  the  popular 
standpoint,  which  demands  of  a  man  his  surrender 
to  all  political  intrigue,  social  commonplaces,  and 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life;  but  genius  bids  him 
soar  away  from  the  commercial  atmosphere  to 
the  heights  were  the  gods  play  with  thunder¬ 
bolts,  and  the  majestic  stars  sing  songs  to  the  si¬ 
lent  night,  that  are  unheard  and  unheeded  by  the 
throng  in  the  valleys. 

Stephen  Phillips,  I  speak  of  him.  You’ll  re¬ 
member  one  wonderful  poem,*  prophetic  and  far- 
seeing. 

You  see,  friend,  now  and  then,  a  man  in  the 
lower  realm,  lower  only  in  the  sense  of  primary, 
catches  an  inspiration,  and  writes  one  or  two 

*  I  did  not  ask  him,  at  the  time,  to  what  poem  he  alluded; 
but  at  a  sitting  at  home,  after  my  return  from  Boston,  he 
said  it  was  ‘Marpessa.’ 


1 68 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


beautiful  things;  but  that  does  not  make  a  poet. 
The  poet  lives  in  the  atmosphere  for  poetry.  ‘In 
Memoriam’  I  believed  touched  the  hearts  of  peo¬ 
ple,  because  it  sang  a  song  of  the  common  loss. 

I  could  not  write  that,  to-day;  it  is  a  dirge  that 
one  could  not  write  in  the  sunshine  and  knowledge 
of  life  after  death.  My  Geraint  and  Enid,  (you 
remember  how  beautiful  was  Enid,  her  trust,  her 
confidence,  and  goodness,)  I  love  to  dwell  upon  to¬ 
day. 

I  must  not  speak  more  of  my  own  work  now ;  but 
this  I  want  to  tell  you :  think  of  me  sometimes  sit¬ 
ting  in  the  sunshine  where  the  scent  of  purple 
grapes  makes  fragrant  the  air,  smoking  ambrosial 
pipe,  as  my  thoughts  fly  earthward  and  I  centre 
on  some  particular  individual.  Then  turning  my 
eyes  in  the  direction  my  thoughts  have  taken,  I 
find  myself  able  to  project  a  definite  influence  for 
good.  Many  of  those  sudden  impulses  to  do  some 
good  and  noble  thing,  come  as  definitely  from  the 
thought  of  people  over  here  as  if  they  were  whis¬ 
pered  in  the  ear  by  a  wise  friend  in  your  own  life. 

We  are  the  finger  of  the  Almighty,  and  may  do, 
as  the  messengers  and  workers  of  the  expression 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


169 


of  life,  very  much  to  bring  peace  and  joy  to  men 
and  women.  I  did  not  know  this  until  I  came  in¬ 
to  the  spirit  world.  I  was  conscious  of  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  spirits.  I  often  thought  them  angels.  I 
frequently  knew  them  to  be  friends,  and  I  thought 
they  were  sent,  or  permitted  to  come  to  me,  for 
my  comfort  and  consolation.  I  did  not  imagine 
that  spirits  were  free  to  work  in  the  sphere  of 
Earth’s  conditions,  to  implant  holy  ideals  in  the 
brains  of  men,  and  to  really  set  the  machinery 
of  ethical  life  into  action. 

The  better  the  men  are  who  come  over  here, 
and  the  more  of  the  good  ones  we  get,  the  better 
it  is  for  your  world;  for  the  influences  men  have 
about  them,  have  a  power  over  people  in  the  body. 
I  have  gotten  to  a  place  where  I  resent  criminal 
immigration  to  the  spirit  world.  What  can  we  do 
with  them?  Any  more  than  you  can  do?  I  don’t 
mean  you,  personally.  They  often  deport  them¬ 
selves  and  return  to  the  country  which  turned 
them  out,  with  their  hatred  and  despair.  If  men 
were  less  concerned  to  lay  up  treasures  on  Earth, 
they  would  lay  up  more  in  Heaven,  and  find  more 
peace  and  profit  in  the  life  of  the  present. 


170 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  fear  I  must  wait  and  talk  some  other  time  on 
this  subject.  It  is  close  to  my  heart.  Good  night. 

Alfred  Tennyson. 

The  Control:  It’s  your  wife  who  comes,  and 
she  says: 

Oh,  how  happy  we  are.  It  is  more  to  us  than 
we  can  express.  And  when  I  come,  I  am  so  in¬ 
terested  to  talk  with  you  about  our  personal  af¬ 
fection  and  family  interests,  that  I  often  neglect 
to  speak  of  the  wonderful  progress  in  thought, 
over  here,  and  the  vital  interest  we  all  have  in  the 
social  problems  of  your  Earth  world. 

Joseph  has  been  making  a  study  of  the  economic 
values  and  conditions,  and  is  extremely  interested 
in  the  Jews.  He  thinks  as  a  nation  they  have  a 
right  to  exist,  although  no  one  gives  them  that 
right;  so  they  are  broken  as  a  people  into  many 
fragments,  and  scattered  over  many  lands.  He 
has  been  to  the  home  of  Tolstoi,  and  has  made  a 
study  of  some  of  his  work  among  the  refugees. 
And  when  he  grows  enthusiastic,  he  is  so  beautiful, 
at  least  to  my  eyes,  because  the  spirit  of  tolerance 
and  brotherly  interest  is  expressed  in  every  fea- 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


171 


ture  of  his  countenance,  and  every  part  of  his 
body. 

Tolerance  has  to  play  a  large  part  in  the  spirit 
of  a  well-poised  person,  because  one  might  love 
the  Jews  and  hate  the  man  who  hated  the  Jews, 
and  sin  just  as  much  against  his  higher  nature  as 
if  he  hated  the  Jews  simply  and  unreservedly  in 
the  first  place.  You  know  how  some  people  find 
it  hard  to  fight  a  battle  for  right  unless  they  can 
hit  some  men  somewhere.  They  could  not  calmly 
stand  up  and  demand  the  right  for  a  Jew,  without 
giving  a  pretty  hard  shot  at  the  men  who  do  things 
against  them.  But  Joseph’s  method  is  to  love 
everybody  as  far  as  they  are  worthy  of  love  and 
not  express  a  partisan  spirit  because  he  has 
espoused  a  cause.  He  may  tell  you  about  it  him¬ 
self,  some  day. 

You  never  knew  my  grand-motlier,  Janet  Rol- 
lin,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  a  little  about  her.  She 
is  French,  of  course,*  as  proud  of  her  descent  as  a 
prince  would  be  of  his  descent  from  the  King. 

There  were  many  early  trials  during  some  hard 
days  in  France,  which  my  people  endured;  but 

*  My  wife  was  French,  born  and  educated  in  France. 


172 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


they  have  all  grown  away ;  and  grandma  comes, 
this  afternoon,  and  stoops  down  over  you,  and 
whispers  a  few  French  words,  meaning,  my  pleas¬ 
ure  to  meet  my  little  Carrie’s  great  American  hus¬ 
band.  She  says:  ‘Your  people  and  mine  are  on 
the  most  cordial  and  friendly  relations,  and  we 
live  near  enough  to  each  other  so  that  we  may  di¬ 
vide  the  children  between  us.  We  are  as  proud 
of  the  hoys  and  Pan  lie  as  your  people  are,  and  we 
want  to  see  them  at  least  half  the  time.’  I  only 
leave  this  word  with  you  to-night.  Good  night. 

Carrie. 


24  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  Paulie  comes  first  this  after¬ 
noon,  and  she  says:  0  papa  dear,  is  this  not 
beautiful  for  me  to  stand  here,  feeling  that  you 
are  my  father,  and  telling  you  how  dear  you  are 
to  me? 

Mamma  and  I  are  constant  companions,  and 
when  you  go  to  any  place  of  interest,  we  follow 
along  like  two  sprites  that  you  cannot  see,  but  the 
influence  of  whose  presence  you  may  feel.  I  went 
with  you  and  Miss  Lilian,  yesterday,  and  saw  the 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


\7S 


wonderful  city  of  marble  and  flowers— the  com¬ 
memorative  place  where  lie  the  bodies  of  so  many 
great  men  and  noble  women,  and  little  children 
whose  souls  become  stars  in  the  dark  night  of  their 
parents’  sorrow.  I  could  hardly  comprehend  that 
Mount  Auburn  was  a  place  consecrated  to  the  dead. 
But  the  holy  stillness  of  all  human  sounds,  just 
the  chatter  of  squirrels,  the  cawing  of  crows,  the 
soft  sounds  of  slowly  moving  feet,  and  a  falling 
leaf,  now  and  then,  made  it  seem  like  a  Sabbath 
day  when  no  sound  of  ordinary  life  is  heard.  But 
I  loved  it.  In  my  mind’s  eye  I  could  see  the  long 
processions  of  mourning  friends,  hear  the  sighs 
and  sobs  of  those  who  wept  without  hope;  and  I 
felt  a  desire  to  carry  the  knowledge  of  the  inter¬ 
penetration  of  spiritual  life  with  all  earthly  life 
to  those  who  need  to  know.  0  daddy  dear,  I  think 
ignorance  is  the  sin  of  the  world.  Why  do  the 
ministers  keep  so  still  about  these  truths?  Are 
they  cowardly?  or  do  they  believe  men  are  insane 
when  they  talk  as  you  do?  And  if  they  don’t 
know,  why  don’t  they  find  out?  And  how  can  they 
ask  the  people  who  lean  on  them,  to  turn  their 
eyes  toward  God  and  thank  him  because  he  has 


174 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


taken  away  their  loved  ones?  It’s  all  dreadful 
and  fearful  to  me  when  I  think  how  ignorant 
people  hold  the  minds  of  those  who  really  want  to 
know,  in  subjection  and  fear. 

All  education  is  not  in  books,  is  it  papa?  Some 
times  I  am  glad  that  I  came  over  here  so  early, 
for  I  did  not  have  much  to  unlearn.  And  I  had 
such  beautiful  times  planning  surprises  for  you 
and  Mamma  and  Eugene.  And  my  brothers  en¬ 
tered  fully  into  all  my  plans. 

The  old  home,  Cascadilla  Cottage,  is  the  sweet¬ 
est  place  on  Earth  to  me ;  but  we  have  a  home  over 
here  that  is  just  as  beautiful  in  its  influence  as  that 
is,  and  has  so  much  more  to  it,  that  I’m  sure  you’ll 
be  very  happy  when  you  come. 

We  have  a  large  hall  where  we  expect  you  to 
read  and  express  vocally  for  some  of  these  dear 
friends  of  yours  who  are  still  writing  beautiful 
poems.  Mr.  Longfellow  says  that  he  would  rather 
hear  you  read  some  of  his  poems  than  hear  some 
other  people  sing  them,  even  though  the  accom¬ 
panying  music  were  excellent  and  true.  Isn’t 
that  a  good  compliment  for  you  father? 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


175 


I  saw  the  chapel,*  yesterday;  I  like  the  old  one 
with  the  grey  towers  better  than  the  new  one.  I 
think  I  like  buildings  that  have  a  touch  of  time  on 
their  surface. 

I  went  to  Italy  with  you  and  mamma,  I,  in  the 
spirit  land  and  you  in  the  body;  and  I  heard  Mrs. 
Browning* *  say  that  she  loved  old  castles  and  old 
churches,  and  ruins,  and  that  she  always  wanted 
to  put  her  hand  on  the  outside  of  the  building,  and 
sometimes  even  to  touch  her  face  to  it,  for  such 
buildings  seemed  like  old  people  who  had  ripened 
and  matured  ’neath  setting  suns  and  stately  stars. 
Oh,  she’s  a  wonderful  spirit,  papa.  She  seems  to 
have  such  a  wide  comprehension  of  great  prob¬ 
lems,  as  if  her  soul  had  many,  many  centuries  of 
experience. 

And,  papa,  I  have  been  interested,  too,  in  the 
old  East  Indian  philosophies.  Are  they  not 
strange  and  wonderful?  Not  all  spirits  are  satis¬ 
fied  of  the  truth  of  those  religions,  any  more  than 
they  are  all  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  our  religion 

*  In  Mount  Auburn,  where  I  went  yesterday  with  Miss 
Lilian  Whiting. 

**  My  daughter  was  taken  care  of  by  Mrs.  Browning  in  the 
Spirit  World  before  her  mother  went  over. 


176 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


of  spiritualism.  But  anything-  that  makes  men 
have  a  better  comprehension  of  the  vastness  of 
life  and  the  possibilities  of  the  soul,  is  good  for 
them,  I  think ;  and  I  always  feel  glad,  to  see  people 
interested  in  something  broader  than  boots  and 
buttons.  You  know  some  people  stop  and  feel 
that  they  filled  their  allotted  spheres  when  they 
have  kept  buttons  on  the  boots  of  their  children, 
and  gingerbread  in  their  little  stomachs.  And  if 
they  send  them  to  Sunday  School,  and  give  them  a 
fair  chance  at  education,  they  consider  they  have 
fairly  won  the  honors  of  parenthood. 

I  shall  be  a  philosopher  myself  if  I  keep  on,  be¬ 
cause  I  keep  adding  to  my  knowledge  by  observa¬ 
tion  and  experience;  and  mamma  says  those  are 
as  good  teachers  as  I  could  have. 

Emil  and  Joseph  were  with  us,  yesterday,  and 
Emil  began  to  calculate  the  vast  sums  of  money 
expended  on  monuments;  and  he  said  he  would 
like  to  take  all  those  stones  and  build  a  temple 
right  beside  the  gate  where  all  the  truths  of  im¬ 
mortality  should  be  taught  to  everyone  who  en¬ 
tered  the  place  to  lay  their  dead  away. 


PAULINE  HENRI ETTE  CORSON 


177 


The  grass  was  green  and  the  flowers  were  sweet ; 
but  they  were  only  beautiful  as  tributes  to  the 
memory;  for  those  whose  names  were  carved  on 
many  a  stone,  were  busy  and  active  in  many  a 
darkened  corner  of  the  Earth,  where  never  a 
flower  was  seen,  and  never  a  bit  of  grass  made  car¬ 
pet  for  tired  feet..  For  instance,  Dr.  Brooks  often 
goes  into  the  crowded  tenement  districts  of  the 
city,  where  he  lived,  and  carries  a  radiant  influ¬ 
ence  like  a  Christ,  and  there  are  many,  many  more 
who  serve  in  just  such  ways.  And  they  always 
will  as  long  as  there  is  pain  or  suffering  in  the 
world.  They  are  not  content  to  find  heaven  as  a 
place  of  rest,  but  know,  as  you  and  I  do,  that 
heaven  is  a  condition,  not  a  place.  So  many  times, 
papa,  at  the  home,  I  walk  into  the  study  where  you 
are,  and  sit  down  in  the  little  chair  mamma  used 
to  sit  in  when  she  was  waiting  for  you  to  get 
through  some  writing  and  talk  to  her,  you  remem¬ 
ber,  and  I  come  there  and  sit  down  and  look  at  you 
and  wonder  why  you  cannot  see  me  when  I  see 
you  so  plainly. 

Whenever  you  put  flowers  on  the  table  I  feel  so 
happy,  and  am  glad  to  know  you  remember  how  I 

13 


178 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


loved  them.  I  always  did  love  them.  I  love  the 
lilies,  but  we  don’t  have  those  so  often.  And  you 
remember  the  spotted  lilies  that  grow  wild,  that 
is,  not  wild,  but  grow  naturally  in  big  clusters.  I 
like  those,  but  I  don’t  like  to  touch  them,  for  the 
pollen  falls  off  on  your  fingers.  Then  there’s  an¬ 
other  flower,  at  home,  that  I  love ;  it’s  that  tall  old- 
fashioned  pink  one,  not  very  fragrant,  but  pretty. 
I  think  it  is  wild  phlox.  There  is  red,  now,  begin¬ 
ning  to  come  on  the  vines  that  run  over  the  wall, 
and  it  looks  beautiful. 

I  want  to  tell  you  so  many  things  about  what  I 
do  over  here. 

Do  you  remember  hearing  an  East  Indian  Ma¬ 
hatma,  or  something  of  that  rank,  speak?  He  had 
a  yellow  silk  turban  or  scarf  around  his  head, 
Swami  Abhedananda.  Didn’t  he  go  to  the  spirit? 
(No.)  Well,  it’s  Yivekananda.  I  saw  him,  and 
talked  with  him.  They  have  such  lofty  ideas  of 
the  Infinite,  I  love  to  talk  to  them.  And  then 
Madame  Blavatsky.  I  have  seen  her;  and,  papa, 
she  is,  at  one  time,  so  lofty,  and  at  another,  so 
coarse,  that  one  can  hardly  understand  the  two 
extremes  of  her  nature.  She  seemed  to  embrace 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


17  9 


all  conditions;  but  she  is  busy;  activity  is  the  ex¬ 
pression  of  her  soul.  She  talked  and  taught  re¬ 
pose,  but  she  could  not  express  it.  She  was  one 
volcano  in  eruption,  the  most  of  the  time.  I  am 
describing  her  in  the  Earth  life.  [Have  you  met 
her  in  the  spirit  life ? ]  Yes.  She  is  not  here,  to¬ 
day,  but  she  asked  me  to  give  you  her  kindest  re¬ 
gards,  and  tell  you  that  she  never  forgot  your 
kindness  to  her,  which  she  never  adequately  ex¬ 
pressed  her  appreciation  of,  while  she  was  in  the 
body,*  Mamma  laughs,  and  with  a  funny  little 
smile,  says,  ‘I  had  all  I  wanted  of  her.  She  was 
more  than  enough  for  one  household  to  take  care 
of,  and  I  thought  she  never  would  go.  She  liked 
our  home  so  much.  I  was  glad  when  I  saw  the  last 
of  her,  and  yet  she  was  fascinating  in  the  extreme, 
at  times.  She  was  a  wonderful  medium,  and  was 
controlled  to  do  a  great  work,  and  she  had  to  do  it 
in  the  way  her  spirit  could  be  used.’ 

I  have  said,  father,  about  all  I  ought  to  say,  to¬ 
day,  just  let  me  add  my  love  to  Eugene  and  Cora, 
and  the  children,  to  Mrs.  Sjoegren  and  her  daugh- 

*  Mme.  Blavalsky  made  me  a  long  visit  in  Ithaca,  in  the 
Autumn  of  1875,  and  began  the  writing  of  ‘Isis  Unveiled’  while 
she  was  with  me. 


180 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


ter,  and  a  thousand  embraces  to  Miss  Lilian,  and 
my  heart’s  devotion  to  you.  Grood  bye. 

Paulie. 

The  Control:  I  want  to  tell  you  that  Joseph 
and  Emil  send  their  love,  and  are  very  happy 
indeed  over  Mr.  Tennyson’s  message;  and  Joseph 
says  that  your  friend,  Mr.  Ernst  Perabo  has  a 
mother  in  the  spirit  land  who  frequently  stands 
by  his  side,  and  yearns  over  him  with  the  tender¬ 
ness  and  love  that  is  most  beautiful  to  see. 

25  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

Happy  are  we,  to-day,  dear,  to  speak  to  you  of 
our  presence,  and  of  our  interest  in  the  city  where 
you  are  staying,  and  in  all  the  things  and  places 
you  are  seeing. 

What  a  beautiful  time  you  will  have  when  you 
get  home  and  apart  from  this  active  expression,  to 
live  again  these  days,  and  recall  the  sweetness  of 
the  hours  we  have  spent  in  this  room.* 

We  were  all  with  you,  this  morning.  Paulie  and 
Emil  walked  with  Miss  Whiting  on  the  pier,  and 


*  The  seances  were  held  in  my  rooms  in  ‘The  Brunswick.’ 


CAROLINE  R0LL1N  CORSON 


181 


Joseph  and  I  sat  beside  you;  and  all  our  friends 
were  near,  looking  at  the  beauty  of  the  sky  and 
sea,  and  thinking  what  a  wonderful  sabbath  it  all 
was  for  tired  eyes  and  wearied  hands. 

The  one  great  difference  between  the  enjoyment 
of  life  in  the  Earth’s  sphere  and  the  spirit  realm, 
is,  that  spirits  take  time  to  enjoy  everything  when 
once  they  are  awakened  to  the  sense  of  beauty; 
in  the  Earth’s  sphere,  demands  for  the  physical 
needs  cannot  be  sufficiently  dismissed  for  a  tem¬ 
porary  enjoyment  of  higher  things. 

Mr.  Brooks  is  here,  and  I  will  step  aside  for  him 
now. 

Carrie. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS. 

Good  afternoon,  my  dear  friend.  When  this  mat¬ 
ter  of  Spiritualism  was  brought  to  my  attention, 
before  I  left  the  body,  I  thought  it  very  unimpor¬ 
tant.  I  thought  it  might  be  true,  or  might  not, 
that  men  should  connect  directly  with  God  as  a 
Father,  and  through  that  understanding  of  divine 
relationship,  come  into  better  relations  with  men 
and  women  about  them. 


182 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  had  not  the  slightest  doubt  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul.  God,  I  thought,  was  too  good,  too 
beneficent,  to  create  a  race  and  then  snuff  them 
out. 

I  had  an  idea  that  it  might  be  perfectly  true 
that  my  sainted  mother,  whom  I  adored  above  all 
human  beings,  could  see  me  at  times ;  but  that  she 
could  even  want  to  leave  that  exalted  sphere  to 
which  she  had  been  promoted  through  death,  I 
never  once  understood  or  believed.  If  I  analyzed 
the  matter  at  all,  it  was  that  her  faith  in  God  left 
me  in  his  care  until  I  was  called  home,  and  my 
faith  in  God  should  let  me  stand  free  and  fearless, 
knowing  that  she  rested  in  his  heaven,  and  among 
his  saints. 

That  sounds  very  fine  as  an  argument;  but,  to¬ 
day,  it  looks  stupid  enough  to  me.  And  I  wonder 
at  my  own  blindness.  You  must  understand  that 
God  to  me  was  a  personal  entity  with  greater  love 
than  we  could  understand.  And  when  my  intel¬ 
lect  began  to  question,  I  fell  down  on  my  knees  and 
prayed  for  greater  faith. 

I  am  not  unhappy  to  find  that  many  of  my  ideas 
were  too  childish  for  the  understanding  of  the 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


183 


broader  conception  of  the  Infinite  power.  And 
that  leads  me  to  question  whether  the  world  is 
ready  for  the  whole  and  complete  revelation. 

Many  truths  I  have  to  tell  you,  but  you  cannot 
hear  them  now.* 

But  of  this  I  am  assured :  the  comfort,  the  com 
panionship,  the  sweet  solace  of  the  communion  be 
tween  dead  and  living,  are  needed  in  every  church, 
in  every  family,  and  in  every  aching  heart. 

Perhaps  the  only  way  to  help  the  world  to  un 
derstand  these  larger  problems  of  Infinity  and 
spiritual  life,  is  to  teach  them  through  their  pain. 

I  am  sure  that  many  times  my  best  utterances 
were  poured  through  my  lips  by  spirits  who  were 
wise  and  good.  I  often  felt,  when  I  began  to  speak, 
a  force  so  strong  that  it  poured  itself  through  me 
in  an  irresistible  tide;  but  I  thought  it  was  God, 
that  it  was  the  answer  to  my  prayer  to  have  my 
open  mouth  filled  with  blessed  words.  And  it  was 
God,  too,  dear  friend,  working  in  his  own  un¬ 
changeable  way,  and  answering  prayers  through 
men  and  women  who  understand  the  law. 


*  So  he  quoted  John  XVI.  12. 


184 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  frequently  sit  with  you,  in  the  evening,  when 
you  are  talking  with  my  friend,  Miss  Whiting. 
For  a  long  time,  almost  since  I  first  came  over 
here,  I  have  been  able  to  draw  very  close  to  her; 
and  she  has  helped  me  many  times  in  an  expres¬ 
sion. 

Perhaps  no  one  in  your  Band  enjoys  having 
you  two  people  together  so  much  as  I.  I  know  the 
close  relationship  existing  between  you  and  the 
Brownings,  and  also  between  her  and  them ;  but  I 
am  as  keenly  alive  to  the  good  it  is  for  you  both 
as  are  the  Brownings.  My  tender  regards  to  her 
and  tell  her  I  have  frequently  talked  with  Dr. 
Donald*  since  he  came  over  here,  and  he  expresses 
the  kindest  appreciation  of  her  friendship. 

She  seems  to  grow  rather  weary  of  the  church 
service,  and  sometimes  chides  herself  for  it;  but 
let  me  assure  her  it  is  growth,  not  weariness,  pro¬ 
gression,  not  retrogression,  and  freedom  which 
she  most  desires. 

When  you  consider  that  it  is  I,  the  friend  and 
adviser,  who  speak  these  words  to  her,  you  may 

*  Rev.  Dr.  Elijah  Winchester  Donald,  successor  to  Dr. 
Brooks,  as  rector  of  Trinity  Church.  Boston;  died  1904. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


185 


smile  and  say  that  I  have  been  growing  too,  which 
is  true. 

I  think  I  will  say  only  one  more  word  to  you, 
and  that  is,  how  much  I  appreciate  your  kindness 
to  me,  and  the  honor  you  do  me,  to  include  me  in 
your  loved  Band. 

I  know  that  you  and  I  have  very  much  in  com¬ 
mon,  in  the  moral  sphere,  however  much  our  re¬ 
ligious  ideas  might  have  clashed.  Our  purposes 
were  plain,  and  our  expressions  fearless  on  some 
of  the  great  problems  of  the  day,  notably  the  An¬ 
ti-Slavery  question,  the  accumulation  of  great 
wealth,  and  the  disastrous  conditions  attending 
the  efforts  to  spend  it.  I  will  say  good  bye,  to¬ 
day,  and  come  again. 

Phillips  Brooks. 


EMIL  CORSON. 

This  is  only  a  short  one,  to-day,  father,  because 
we  know  your  hand  is  tired,  and  we  want  you  to 
feel  good  for  to-morrow. 

I  love  this  life  here  in  this  city.  There’s  so  much 
going  on.  We  get  a  touch  of  some  of  the  modern 


186 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


ways  of  getting  about  and  seeing  different  places 
and  people.  I  loved  the  water,  this  morning,*  I’d 
like  to  be  right  out  on  it  some  time. 

What  a  variety  of  scenery  there  is  here.  We 
took  a  walk  with  Mr.  Longfellow  the  other  day 
while  you  were  lying  down,  and  he  showed  ns 
Bunker  Hill,  and  an  old  burying  ground  that  you 
haven’t  seen,  I  think  it  is  called  Copp’s  Hill,** 
looking  out  to  the  sea,  and  the  State  House. 

It ’s  very  busy  at  Ithaca  now ;  and  some  of  your 
friends  have  already  asked  for  you;  but  you’ll  go 
home  soon  enough,  and  find  everything  in  order, 
and  the  lovely  peaceful  atmosphere  everywhere. 
There’s  the  smell  of  grapes  in  the  air,  and  the  lit¬ 
tle  round  red  apples.  I  like  the  fruiting  season; 
and  the  harvest  time  is  come.  I  go  there  every  day 
and  look  about,  and  fancy  I  see  you  with  your  over¬ 
coat  and  gloves  on,  and  your  cap,  walking  around 


*  I  went  with  Miss  Whiting,  this  morning,  to  the  sea  shore, 
and  spent  some  time  on  the  pier  running  out  into  the  sea,  and 
saw  an  ocean  steamer  coming  in  from  England. 

**  A  hill  in  the  northeast  part  of  Boston,  an  old  burial 
ground,  reverentially  preserved,  occupied,  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  by  a  British  fort,  from  which  hot  shot  were  thrown  into 
Charlestown,  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  setting  the  town  on 
fire.  It  commands  a  fine  view  of  the  sea. 


EMIL  CORSON 


187 


the  place  for  a  little  constitutional.  Everything 
will  look  so  good  after  you’ve  been  away. 

And  there  has  been  a  good  lot  of  work  done  in 
the  house  since  you  have  been  gone,  everything 
put  in  spick  and  span  order. 

[How  do  you  know  such  expressions?] 

Oh,  we  pick  them  up  from  different  people, 
sometimes  in  the  Earth  life,  and  sometimes  in  the 
spirit. 

Language  grows  with  us  much  the  same  as  it 
does  with  you.  The  need  of  a  word  creates  it. 

I  was  going  to  tell  you  a  little  more  about  the 
house.  You  know  every  little  while  you  have  to 
have  some  trimming  of  the  trees  done,  and  that 
makes  a  little  firewood.  I  love  that  kind  of  a  fire, 
when  the  flames  dance  up  and  down  the  wall,  and 
the  odors  of  the  forest  are  released  by  the  heat. 

I  do  not  wonder  that  the  Indians  dance  before 
their  camp  fires. 

Did  you  ever  think  what  we  do  over  here,  about 
fires,  I  was  going  to  say.  Fires  play  so  large  a 
part  in  the  Earth  life  of  men  that  it  seems  as  if 
some  people  find  it  hard  to  grow  away  from  the 
desire  for  the  beauty  and  comfort  of  fire.  And  I 


188 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


have  seen  people  enjoying  it  over  here.  They 
create  it  through  a  chemical  action,  and  it  looks 
exactly  like  the  fire  people  use  for  heat  and  cook¬ 
ing.  They  do  not  need  it,  they  only  want  it.  Mr. 
Hawthorne  loves  an  open  fire,  and  he  says,  I  want 
no  boxed-up  flame  for  me.  I  want  to  see,  and 
smell,  and  hear,  as  well  as  feel;  and  Mr.  Longfel¬ 
low  says,  only  one  more  to  add  to  those,  and  that 
is,  taste;  and  if  he  lets  his  fire  smoke  a  little  he 
can  add  taste  to  the  equipment.*  It’s  a  bit  of  their 
fun. 

Now,  father  dear,  I  think  I’ll  go,  and  before  yon 
return  to  Ithaca,  I’ll  come  with  another  message; 
for  I  want  to  tell  you  how  I  love  the  drives,**  and 
the  circles,  at  home,  and  the  association  with  you, 
my  revered  father.  Good  night. 

Emil. 


*  Here  it  appears  that  spirits  enjoy  the  memory  of  even 
physical  comforts  in  the  Earth  life,  though  there  is  no  need 
of  them  in  the  Spirit  life. 

**  The  Band  accompanies  me  in  my  occasional  drives,  at 
home,  through  the  fine  scenery  around  Ithaca.  By  ‘circles’ 
he  means  my  private  stances. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


189 


26  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control:  ‘Never  the  time  and  the  place 
and  the  loved  one  all  together,’*  your  wife  says, 
but  this  is  the  time  and  the  place,  and  the  loved 
ones  all  together. 

Dear,  dear  husband,  the  joy  is  mine  to  greet 
you,  to-day;  and  I  want  to  send  a  message  to  dear 
Lilian,  and  tell  her  how  much  we  love  her  for  her 
devotion  to  you;  and  tell  her  she  must  not  grieve 
when  things  do  not  come  as  she  plans  for  you. 

Emil  was  with  you,  this  morning,  and  he  wishes 
me  to  tell  you  that  he  and  Mr.  Longfellow  were  at 
the  old  burying  ground  the  other  day,  because 
they  were  going  over  the  road  made  famous  by 
the  lines  of  Mr.  Longfellow,  called  ‘Paul  Revere 
Ride’.  They  started  from  the  Old  North  church, 
and  went  on  and  out  to  Lexington.  But  they  were 
not  weary,  found  no  locked  gates,  and  had  to  pay 
no  Peter’s  pence  to  get  into  the  temple.** 


*  The  two  first  verses  of  Browning’s  poem  in  the  volume  en¬ 
titled  ‘Jocoseria.’  The  first  verse  serves  as  the  title  to  the 
poem. 

**  Alluding  to  experiences  which  Miss  Whiting  and  I  had 
when  we  went  to  visit  Copp’s  Hill. 


190 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  have  been  to  see  onr  son  since  yesterday ;  and 
it  is  so  good  to  find  tlie  cordial  welcome  and  a  new 
enthusiasm  for  our  communications.  It  is  like  a 
new  bit  of  life  poured  into  his  existence. 

So  many  men  live  on  and  on  in  the  present  with¬ 
out  any  knowledge  at  all  of  the  after  life,  except 
that  vague  and  dreamy  belief  in  a  heaven  pre¬ 
pared  for  saints.  How  funny  it  is  that  so  many 
people  believe  that  only  good  folks  go  to  heaven; 
and  yet  go  right  on  sinning,  living  selfish  lives  and 
having  no  conception  of  what  the  truth  is.  How 
can  one  explain  it  except  that  they  believe  nothing 
at  all,  and  gamble  with  eternity  just  as  they  do 
with  life. 

It  is  such  a  pleasure  to  me,  dear,  to  have  the 
children  speak  to  you  in  such  confidence  of  their 
love  and  their  life  here.  It  is  ideal.  Had  they 
stayed  with  you,  it  would  have  been  my  desire  to 
have  this  same  blessed  comradeship  grow  up  be¬ 
tween  you  all  as  now  exists  and  always  will  exist. 

But  one  can  never  tell  what  effect  the  material 
life  in  a  physical  body  may  have  on  the  spirit;  and 
I  am  glad  now  that  our  dear  children  so  early  be¬ 
gan  the  real  and  spiritual  expression. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


191 


I  think  I  am  helped  by  these  communications 
equally  with  you. 

Mr.  Myers  promised  to  speak  with  you,  to-day, 
and  he  is  here,  looking  very  strong  and  noble,  and 
very  ready  to  give  you  any  knowledge  he  has 
which  may  help  you;  and  he  wishes  me  to  say  to 
you  that  he  has  pleasure  in  coming  as  well  as  you 
in  having  him  come. 

Love  to  you,  dear. 

Carrie. 


F.  W.  H.  MYERS. 

I  am  glad  to  come  to  you,  my  friend. 

1  have  often  said,  and  still  repeat,  there  is  no 
subject  in  the  world  so  interesting,  so  fascinating 
to  me,  as  the  subject  of  spirit  identity.  After  I 
began  to  be  interested  in  it  seriously,  and  after 
the  English  society  was  formed,  I  needed  no  other 
recreation,  and  found  nothing  of  vital  importance 
outside  of  it  for  me. 

T  am  still,  so  to  speak,  connected  with  the  So¬ 
ciety,  and  whenever  I  have  opportunity  I  make  ef¬ 
fort  to  express  something  clear  to  the  men  who  are 
interested  with  rue. 


192 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Sir  Oliver  Lodge  lias  done  a  great  work,  and  I 
am  pleased  with  it ;  but  none  of  them  have  taken 
the  simple,  rational,  natural  relationship  as  you 
have  done ;  and  I  believe  that  is  the  key  to  the  won¬ 
derful  messages  that  are  given  you.  You  take 
everything  and  weigh  your  evidence  afterward, 
and  it  is  not  often  that  you  have  to  discard  any¬ 
thing  as  mistaken  identity  or  foolish  talk.  Every 
thing  you  have  received  fits  together  like  a  wonder¬ 
ful  mosaic  of  spiritual  reality. 

I  suppose  if  I  had  stayed  longer  I  would  have 
written  more.  The  trouble  is  not,  to  write  enough, 
but,  not  to  write  too  much. 

I  was  never  handicapped  by  what  other  people 
thought.  If  I  discovered  something  which  they 
had  not  known,  it  gave  me  no  trouble  at  all,  and  I 
never  doubted  my  own  experiences  because  they 
did.  I  rather  felt  a  sense  of  pity  that  they  could 
not  see,  or  could  not  have  the  opportunity  to  see, 
what  I  saw. 

One  of  the  remarkable  things  in  this  whole  work, 
to  me,  has  been  the  very  prodigal  way  in  which 
the  spirits  have  dispensed  their  gifts  without  re¬ 
gard  to  education  or  birth,  or  financial  standing; 


F.  W.  H.  MYERS 


193 


and  a  social  equipment  hindered  rather  than 
helped  the  growth  of  the  gift  of  clairvoyance  or 
clairaudience,  or  trance,  or  psychometry.  The 
power  came  wherever  and  whenever  there  was 
sufficient  receptivity  to  make  it  felt  and  known. 

Everything  is  in  the  hands  of  the  people  who 
are  alive  in  the  world.  There  is  no  particular  cun¬ 
ning  about  it.  And  whenever  anyone  seeks  earn¬ 
estly  for  some  [spiritual]  expression,  it  is  never 
withheld. 

1  was  not  surprised  in  that  matter,  for  I  had  al¬ 
ways  believed  that  it  was  possible  to  tap  the  res¬ 
ervoir  of  spiritual  knowledge  and  get  direct  in¬ 
formation,  not  only  about  spiritual  conditions,  hut 
physical. 

I  have  little  patience  with  that  group  of  men 
who  explain  everything  by  telepathy,  and  can 
give  one  no  evidence  whatever  of  how  telepathy 
works,  or  how  the  law  may  be  applied. 

You  are  probably  familiar  with  Thomson  Jay 
Hudson’s  theories,  his  universal  telepathy,  and 

14 


2  9 4 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


telepathy  a  trois  *  He  had  some  of  the  conceit 
taken  out  of  him  when  he  came  over  here,  for  all 
his  experiments  failed.  Telepathy  has  never  been 
demonstrated  as  being  a  power  apart  from  the 
spirit  possibility;  far  more  likely  it  is  that  spirit 
messengers  act  as  go-betweens,  and  deliver  the 
message  sent  from  one  person  to  another.  And  in 
cases  where  a  message  is  telepathied  in  English 
and  received  in  Greek,  how  can  that  be  done  by 
any  other  means  than  by  the  spirit  operator  im¬ 
pressing  on  the  receiver  the  Greek  expression  for 
the  given  English  message. 

I  believe  it  perfectly  possible  for  me  to  give  you 
a  message,  this  afternoon,  and  an  hour  later,  un¬ 
der  like  conditions,  in  another  channel,  give  the 
same  message  to  some  one  in  England.  And  I  be¬ 
lieve  if  this  message  is  transmitted  simultaneous- 


*  “A  message  transmitted  from  A  to  B,  by  any  means  of 
communicating  human  intelligence,  can  be  transmitted,  con¬ 
ditions  being  equal,  from  B  to  C  by  the  same  means.  Besides, 
it  has  been  demonstrated,  again  and  again,  by  experimental 
telepathy,  that  telepathy  by  three,  or  as  the  French  call  it, 
‘telepathie  a  trois,’  is  net  only  a  possible,  but  a  very  common 
phenomenon.” 

The  Evolution  of  the  Soul.  By  Thomson  Jay  Hudson.  Chi¬ 
cago:  1904,  P.  169. 


F.  W.  H.  MYERS 


195 


]y  in  both  places  it  must  be  given  in  one  place  by 
some  one  cooperating  with  me  for  that  purpose. 

The  cross-reference  is  still  agitating  the  minds 
of  those  who  desire  to  put  evidence  of  spirit  iden¬ 
tity  into  expression  such  as  would  be  used  in  log¬ 
arithms  or  chemical  quantities.  Only  in  one  way 
can  this  be  done  perfectly  and  without  failure,  and 
that  is,  to  have  the  different  media  of  equal  spirit¬ 
ual  vibration,  or,  in  other  words,  to  have  instru¬ 
ments  that  are  keyed  to  the  same  pitch. 

There  has  been  no  care  taken  of  the  mediums; 
and  until  there  is,  scientific  demonstrations  are 
very  nearly  useless.  But  the  heart  to  heart  evi¬ 
dence  may  go  on  unremittingly  and  unceasingly. 

I  did  not  mean  to  talk  so  long  on  this  particular 
theme.  There  are  so  many  other  forms  of  mani¬ 
festation  from  the  spirit.  I  was  interested  in 
them:  the  dreams,  the  haunted  houses,  the  physi¬ 
cal  expression  through  the  voice,  the  cabinet 
forms,  and  all  those  multiplied  phenomena  which 
make  up  the  list  that  you  and  I  are  familiar  with. 

All  of  these  expressions  are  true  in  instances. 
And  because  some  one  has  played  fast  and  loose 


196 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


with  the  credulity  of  dupes,  there  is  no  reason  for 
denying  the  truth  when  it  is  given. 

Infinite  is  the  variety  of  the  flora  of  the  world, 
and  infinite  is  the  variety  of  spirit  expression. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  question  of  prophecy 
was  tabooed  by  serious  minds ;  but  no  one  who  has 
had  many  seances  with  psychics  of  good  repute, 
has  failed  to  note  the  many,  many  foretellings  of 
future  events  which  were  as  clearly  seen  as  if 
they  had  been  a  part  of  the  past. 

This  is  one  of  the  phases  which  men  will  have 
to  reckon  with,  before  very  long.  A  chance 
prophecy  which  falls  in  with  the  manner  of  living, 
and  would  be  a  natural  sequence  of  present  condi¬ 
tions,  I  will  not  consider ;  but  the  definite  picturing 
of  future  events,  with  color,  and  sound,  and  peo¬ 
ple,  and  season  of  the  year,  or  atmosphere  of  the 
hour,  is  too  direct  and  definite  to  be  ignored. 

Really,  when  one  comes  to  study  this  great  ex¬ 
pression,  it  is  so  stupendous  as  to  be  almost  over¬ 
whelming;  and  I  sometimes  think  that  it  will  be 
the  mass  of  individual  experiences  brought  into 
place  where  men  may  hear  and  know,  that  will 
give  the  world  the  best  understanding  of  the  truth. 


F.  W.  H.  MYERS 


197 


I  am  always  glad  to  come  to  you  personally, 
aside  from  your  perfect  confidence  in  our  capacity 
to  speak.  There  is  a  sense  of  companionship  be¬ 
cause  of  your  spiritual  aspirations.  Your  eyes 
are  not  always  glued  to  the  expression;  but  your 
mind  and  spirit  respond.  You  meet  us  more  than 
half-way.  And  when  I  am  in  your  home,  I  do  not 
feel  that  I  have  come  into  a  denser  atmosphere, 
but  rather  that  it  is  clear  and  pellucid  and  beauti¬ 
ful. 

So  many  men  with  whom  I  spent  hours  of  in¬ 
vestigation  of  these  subjects,  had  absolutely  noth¬ 
ing  in  them  except  a  common  interest  in  facts. 
How  bare,  how  cold,  how  materialistic !  What 
shall  we  do  with  the  facts  when  we  have  them? 
Sit  on  them  until  they  explode?  make  record  on 
record  of  them,  until  the  files  are  so  voluminous 
that  no  ordinary  man  would  attempt  to  wade 
through  them?  No.  They  must  serve  their  pur¬ 
pose  in  the  world,  and  lift  mankind  to  an  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  the  spiritual  life,  or  the  power  will  be  trans¬ 
ferred  to  a  centre  where  it  can  be  of  use.  It  is  the 
religions  and  humanitarian,  the  ethical  and  spirit¬ 
ual  influence  which  must  be  understood  now;  and 


198 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


I  am  heart  and  soul  with  those  who  desire  to  give 
the  world  the  blessed  assurance  of  life  after  death, 
and  a  comfort  and  inspiration  which  that  assur¬ 
ance  alone  can  give. 

I  would  have  all  the  songs  the  songs  of  joy,  all 
the  prayers  the  prayers  of  understanding,  all  the 
deeds  the  deeds  of  wisdom,  and  all  the  lives  made 
holy  and  sweet. 

I  think  I  must  go  now ;  I  may  be  able  to  speak 
once  more  before  you  leave.  And  I  have  a  plan 
to  write  you  a  letter  if  I  am  able,  once  in  a  while, 
through  the  hand  of  the  medium,  to  give  you  the 
assurance  of  my  continued  cordial  relations,  as 
one  of  your  Band  of  faithful  friends. 

Frederic  Meyers. 

27  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

Greeting  to  you,  my  dear.  It  makes  the  veil  be¬ 
tween  us  seem  very  light  and  filmy  when  I  can  so 
easily  step  through  it  and  speak  my  message  to 
you. 

Our  darling  children  are  with  me,  and  it  is  the 
rarest  treat  of  their  lives  to  be  able  to  come  to  you 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


1 99 


in  this  familiar  fashion  from  day  to  day.  We 
thought  we  had  the  very  easiest  and  best  condi 
tions  at  the  home;  but  this  is  still  better,  because 
the  brain  through  which  the  messages  are  sent,  is 
more  capable,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  use  that  term, 
in  that  connection. 

Mr.  Myers  was  exceedingly  pleased  with  the  re¬ 
sult  of  his  effort,  yesterday.  He  says  that  the 
spirits  cannot  always  be  sure  of  just  how  clear  the 
message  has  been  as  they  have  given  it;  but  after 
they  go  away  and  look  back  on  the  written  page, 
or  the  remembered  word  in  the  mind  of  their 
friend,  they  are  better  able  to  form  an  adequate 
conception  of  what  they  have  accomplished. 

He  told  me,  this  morning,  that  he  would  be  hap¬ 
py  and  confident  of  the  future  of  the  spiritual 
truth  if  he  could  be  assured  of  a  dozen  men  like 
you  to  receive  the  messages;  and  I  was  compli¬ 
mented  and  pleased,  myself ;  for  I  know  your  ver¬ 
acity,  your  steadfastness  and  your  fearlessness 
better,  perhaps,  than  any  one  else  in  the  world. 

I  have  wanted  to  speak  to  you  about  the  familiar 
relations  between  friends  over  here.  It  was  quite 
a  surprise  to  me  when  it  was  first  suggested  to 


200 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


me,  that  all  families  did  not  remain  united  in  the 
spirit  spheres.  You  know,  with  my  understanding 
and  love  of  family  ties,  that  was  a  heathenish  con¬ 
ception  ;  but  I  have  grown  to  understand  that  the 
only  bonds  that  hold  people  together,  in  the  spirit¬ 
ual  realm,  are  the  bonds  of  soul.  Some  loves  are 
too  weak  to  hold  over  into  this  life ;  and  some  fam¬ 
ily  connections  seem  only  to  exist  for  progress  or 
special  adaptation  for  understanding  of  problems 
or  something  of  that  sort.  It  pleases  me,  now  that 
I  know  this,  to  tell  you  that  my  people  and  your 
people  are  very  near  and  dear  to  each  other  and 
to  us.  Your  mother  is  as  much  my  mother  as  she 
is  yours ;  and  I  love  her  just  as  fondly  as  I  do  my 
own  mother.  And  our  children  have  no  desire  to 
form  any  ties  of  deep  love  outside  the  family  cir¬ 
cle  as  yet,  and  when  they  do,  I  know  their  loves 
will  be  woven  into  the  fabric  of  our  lives. 

Miss  Bennett  wishes  to  speak  to  you,  so  I  will 
let  her  come  now. 

Carrie. 

FRANCES  E.  BENNETT. 

Good  afternoon,  professor.  Perhaps  you  have 
thought  that  I  had  enough  of  school  life  when  I 


FRANCES  E.  BENNETT 


201 


was  in  the  body.  It  is  true  I  was  sometimes  weary 
of  teaching;  but  there  was  really  nothing  in  life 
that  held  me  so  completely  and  gave  me  so  much 
happiness  in  return. 

I  often  have  your  daughter,  Pauline,  with  me  in 
my  interesting  classes;  and  instead  of  teaching 
deportment,  good  manners,  and  the  like,  we  lay 
large  stress  on  expression.  Whatever  the  study, 
whether  music  or  art,  elocution  or  mathematics, 
the  individual  expression  is  the  matter  of  most 
moment. 

Suppose  one  were  able  to  play  a  sonata;  the  in¬ 
dividual  expression  would,  to  my  mind,  mean  the 
feeling,  the  depth  of  soul  touch  which  could  be 
expressed  to  other  souls.  To  take  a  more  familiar 
subject,  your  own  vocal  expressions  of  poems  or 
plays,  or  even  stories,  is  so  largely  a  part  of  your¬ 
self  that  no  one  else  could  ever  express  in  the  same 
way. 

I  understood  Dante  better  after  hearing  you 
read.  (The  Control :  She  hesitates  a  moment,  puts 
her  hand  to  her  head,  and  thinks,  and  then  says) : 
it’s  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  Shylock,  I  was  trying 
to  recall. 


202 


SPIRIT  MESS  A  AGES 


I  liave  several  times  tried  to  speak  at  the  home 
circle  about  some  of  the  things  of  the  past;  but  I 
am  always  troubled,  in  a  degree,  by  the  last  ill¬ 
ness,  you  well  remember,  long  and  tedious.  After 
all,  I  am  not  sure  that  you  care  to  have  me  return 
to  the  past,  but  would  rather  I  give  you  a  thought 
of  my  present  life,  and  my  effort  in  this  particu¬ 
lar  connection  of  manifestation  from  the  Spirit 
land. 

I  was  glad  to  be  through  with  the  weariness,  and 
so  happy  to  find  a  life  with  possibilities ;  and  over 
and  over  again,  in  the  first  months  of  my  life  here, 
I  recalled  many  things  which  you  had  said  that 
helped  me  trace  my  way. 

You  were  never  much  of  a  proselyter;  but  one 
could  not  talk  to  you  long  without  understanding 
your  conception  of  God,  and  life,  and  the  universe. 

If  I  should  tell  you  I  am  happy,  I  know  it  would 
give  pleasure;  and  I  am  happy,  but  I  still  have 
many  things  to  work  for,  and  see  the  life  open  up 
to  me,  as  one  of  diligence  and  study,  and  activity. 
But  the  blessed  thing  about  it  all,  is,  that  the  eter¬ 
nal  problems  of  meeting  indebtedness,  one  is  re¬ 
leased  from.  There  is  a  freedom  from  the  mater- 


FRANCES  E.  BENNETT 


203 


ial  demands  which  makes  life  most  wonderful  and 
sincere. 

Men  and  women  waste  themselves  playing  parts 
for  a  pittance.  All  acting  is  not  before  the  foot¬ 
lights,  nor  is  all  simple  honest  life  off  the  stage.  I 
sometimes  wonder  where  the  whirl  is  going  to 
end.  Fad  and  fancy,  fashion  and  foolishness, 
make  stark-mad  fools  of  what  might  otherwise  be 
strong  and  beautiful  men  and  women. 

I  never  feel  like  grieving  over  death,  as  I  used 
to,  for  I  know  that  there  is  a  better  chance  for  the 
soul  over  here. 

I  haven’t  much  I  want  to  say,  except  to  give  my 
love  to  Tilly.  Tell  her  I  often  see  her  about  her 
duties,  and  I  am  glad  that  she  is  growing  so  fast 
in  her  spiritual  unfoldment,  and  I  want  to  help 
her  when  I  can.  I  promised  to  say  a  word  to  her 
from  her  husband,  who  passed  away  so  long  ago. 
He  sends  his  greetings  and  his  love  to  her  and  tells 
her  and  the  child  to  go  on  in  the  same  faithful  way, 
and  rest  in  the  knowledge  of  his  love  for  them. 

Good  bye,  my  friend. 


Miss  Bennett. 


204 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON. 

To  say  that  I  am  happy  doesn’t  express  much. 

I  want  to  tell  you,  papa  dear,  about  some  won¬ 
derful  music  I’ve  heard  over  here.  I  went,  the 
other  day,  where  there  was  a  great  company  of 
musicians.  They  were  all  playing  on  instruments 
different  from  any  which  I  had  ever  seen  before. 
Some  were  very  large,  with  strings  across  them, 
like  wonderful  violins;  and  some  were  long  like 
reedy  flutes;  and  these  people  played  upon  them 
without  any  particular  effort.  There  were  pianos, 
too,  and  voices  that  blended  with  the  whole.  They 
were  representing  sounds  that  we  have  in  this  life. 
Sometimes  the  music  would  ripple  and  flow  like  a 
little  stream  through  a  sylvan  forest,  and  now  and 
then  a  sound  like  a  bird  in  the  wood,  and  a  boy 
whistling  as  he  walked  beside  the  stream.  Then  a 
little  crooning  song  like  the  rustle  of  corn  leaves 
in  the  summer  wind.  And  all  at  once  there  would 
come  a  sound  like  a  storm  approaching,  and  a 
hush  like  the  stillness  before  the  thunder  breaks, 
and  then  all  the  vividness  of  lightning  flash, and 
pouring  rain,  and  wind-lashed  trees,  and  far  off, 
the  lonely  bleats  of  frightened  sheep  on  the  moun- 


PAULINE  HENRI ETTE  CORSON 


205 


tain  side.  And  soon  these  rough  storm  sounds 
died  away,  and  the  sun  came  out,  and  the  birds 
began  to  sing,  and  the  pine  trees  to  whisper,  and 
ail  the  air  was  tilled  with  the  sounds  of  happy 
children.  All  this  was  done  by  men  with  musical 
instruments,  and  men  and  women,  with  voices 
trained  through  love  of  harmony,  to  express  these 
things. 

1  think  I  would  rather  go  again  to  something 
like  that  than  to  see  the  most  wonderful  represen¬ 
tation  of  the  passion  of  Christ  (the  passion  play, 
I  mean),  that  was  ever  produced.  That’s  a  minor 
strain,  a  note  of  sorrow,  perpetuated  eternally; 
and  even  Christ  himself,  I  fancy,  would  not  care 
to  have  the  world  dwell  in  that  low  key. 

I  think  you  and  I  have  the  same  tastes  and  de¬ 
sires,  don’t  you!  and  it  pleases  me  to  think  you 
have  imparted  to  me  something  of  yourself. 

It’s  only  a  week  before  you  will  be  back  in  the 
home,  and  I  shall  be  sitting  there  beside  you,  keep¬ 
ing  you  company,  although  you  may  not  know  it. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Browning  are  going  to  try  to  speak 
to  you,  tomorrow.  They  want  a  good  long  time. 


206 


SPIRIT  MESS  A  AGES 


Mr.  Whitman  asked  me  to  tell  you  how  glad  he 
is  that  you  are  happy  in  his  attention  to  the  boys, 
and  the  boys  say  that  they  would  fight  for  him 
with  the  same  ardor  that  they  would  fight  for  you. 
[The  Control :  That’s  only  a  term  they  use.]  They 
call  him  Uncle  Walt.  He  prefers  Walt.  They  be¬ 
gan  calling  him  Uncle  Whitman,  but  he  likes  the 
other  name  better. 

You  would  laugh  to  see  them  all  lying  down  on  a 
beautiful  grassy  bed,  just  as  real  to  them  as  any 
grass  land  you  ever  saw,  and  talking  away  about 
the  Universe,  and  beyond  the  spaces,  and  the  won¬ 
derful  story  of  the  spirit  of  God  in  men  and  trees. 

Mr.  Whitman  is  really  one  of  the  most  deeply 
religious  men,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  I  ever 
knew.  He  hates  hypocrisy,  abhors  cant,  and, 
above  all  things,  loves  an  honest  man. 

Do  you  remember  Mrs.  Andrews  and  some  In¬ 
dian  guides  she  had?  (Yes.)  She  says  Honto 
took  care  of  me.  She  also  says  you  helped  her  a 
good  deal,  and  she  always  wanted  to  thank  you* 

Good  night,  papa. 

*  Mrs.  Andrews  was  a  well-known  materializing  medium,  at 
a  place  called  ‘The  Cascade,’  on  Owasco  Lake.  I  attended  her 
seances  after  my  daughter  passed  away  in  1874.  Honto  told 
me  she  strengthened  my  papoose,  as  she  called  her,  with  her 
magnetism,  when  she  came  over.  Honto  would  come  out  of 
the  cabinet  and  talk  to  the  circle  in  a  high-pitched  voice.  She 
was  a  wonder  of  materialization. 


ELIZABETH  B.  BROWNING 


207 


28  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control:  Mrs.  Browning  steps  for¬ 
ward  to  say  a  few  words  because  Mr.  Browning- 
wishes  her  to  have  the  first  place. 

Oh,  rare  and  beautiful  day  that  gives  us  an  op- 
portunity  to  communicate  with  you,  our  treasured 
friend.  There  is  no  trace  of  sadness  in  our  hearts, 
to-day.  Life  is  like  a  garden  of  roses,  and  every 
step  we  take,  the  sweet  breath  is  wafted  to  our 
nostrils,  and  our  eyes  are  filled  with  the  beauty. 

How  lovely  it  is  to  say,  again  and  again,  to  you 
and  to  ourselves,  this  is  God’s  completeness,  the 
additional  expression  of  his  love.  Somewhere  in 
the  heart  of  the  Universe,  there  must  be  a  foun¬ 
tain  of  love,  and  ever  and  anon  it  ripples  and  flows 
into  the  hearts  of  men  and  women,  making  them 
strong  and  good  and  lovely. 

Perhaps  it  is  the  poetical  strain  in  me  which 
makes  me  love  to  think  of  God  as  the  expression 
of  love,  and  to  feel  that  his  arms  are  ever  around 
the  world,  keeping  it  in  its  orbit. 

Many,  many  times  since  your  wife  has  come 
over  here,  and  especially  since  she  has  been  able, 


208 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


at  these  sittings,  to  send  a  definite  letter  to  her 
son,  I  have  felt  the  mother  heart  in  me  yearn  to  do 
as  much  for  my  boy.  I  know  how  he  reveres  my 
memory;  but  I  would  love  to  have  that  personal 
talk  which  is  so  satisfactory  to  those  who  gain 
such  advantage. 

I  do  not  remember  whether  I  have  spoken  to 
you  of  my  joy  when  my  darling  came  to  me.  I  had 
waited  so  long  and  had  tried  to  be  patient  until  the 
door  should  open  into  this  life ;  but  when  the  day 
really  dawned,  the  intensity  of  my  feeling  brought 
silence  and  sweet  tears. 

My  father  always  believed  in  me,  but  had  an  al¬ 
most  overpowering  care.  And  when  I  assumed 
my  right  of  perfect  health,  and  poise  in  the  spirit 
realm,  it  was  quite  surprising  to  see  him  still  lin¬ 
ger  by  my  side  as  if  to  protect  me;  but  we  soon 
understood  each  other,  and  I  was  allowed  the  free¬ 
dom  which  I  always  yearned  for.  And  when  Rob¬ 
ert,  my  husband,  was  working  and  expressing,  in 
his  own  powerful  way,  I  was  always  by  his  side, 
and,  I  hope,  an  inspiration  and  a  strength  to  him. 
I  was  with  him  in  the  spirit  when  you  met  him  in 
the  body,  and  it  was  beautiful  to  see  the  way  you 


ELIZABETH  B.  BROWNING 


209 


two  men  understood  each  other.  That  is  why  we 
are  so  close  to  you. 

There  must  be  something  in  the  sou]  to  attract 
and  hold,  else  there  is  no  union,  no  friendship, 
that  is  lasting  or  sure.  And  if  you  had  spoken 
less  enthusiastically  of  his  work,  or  of  mine,  there 
would  still  have  been  a  bond  between  you,  for  the 
soul  does  not  always  need  the  outward  expression 
to  know  its  own  or  demand  the  continued  expres¬ 
sion  to  hold  its  own. 

What  shall  I  say  to  you  that  will  make  you  as¬ 
sured  of  our  happiness  in  your  companionship! 
Sometimes  when  I  see  all  the  strong  people  about 
you,  strong  thinkers  like  Dr.  Brooks,  and  Mr. 
Myers,  wonderful  teachers  and  sturdy  yeomen  of 
the  poetic  expression,  like  Whitman,  I  feel  that 
my  feeble  songs  are  like  the  twitter  of  a  bird  in 
the  nest,  compared  to  the  lark’s  burst  of  melody, 
at  the  rising  of  the  sun. 

No  one  knows  so  well  as  the  one  who  has  at¬ 
tempted  to  do  something,  how  imperfectly  that 
something  has  been  done. 

Your  Quaker  poet  has  beautifully  expressed  it 
in  the  lines, 


15 


210 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


“Let  the  thick  curtain  fall, 

I  better  know  than  all, 

How  little  I  have  gained, 

How  vast  the  unattained.  ’  ’ 

I  think  I  have  quoted  it  correctly,  and  it  is  so 
expressive. 

Some  bombastic  singers,  with  conceit  growing 
out  of  their  finger  tips,  could  hardly  sing  that  song. 
But  I  believe  that  in  the  heart  of  every  truthful 
poet,  the  yearning  so  exceeds  the  expression  that 
there  is  often  a  pain  akin  to  despair,  resting  there. 
But  where  there  are  two  who  hold  each  other’s 
hands,  through  hours  of  doubt,  and  whisper 
through  the  darkness  the  story  of  sweet  confi¬ 
dence,  there  are  fewer  of  these  strains  of  sadness 
than  when  one  is  alone,  as  was  Mr.  Whitman. 

Some  of  the  ideals  which  we  both  had  for  the 
world,  we  strive  to  make  real,  to-day.  Robert  puts 
his  hand  on  yours,  and  I  withdraw  that  he  may 
give  you  his  message. 

Elizabeth  B.  Browning. 

So  I  am  here  again,  my  friend,  filled  with  an 
energy  that  comes  from  an  understanding  com¬ 
panionship.  Wherever  I  go  in  the  world,  I  find 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


211 


weary  workers,  back  bent  with  the  burden  of 
Earth ’s  cares,  and  I  long  to  sing  a  song  of  victory, 
and  see  the  eyes  look  up,  and  the  burden  roll 
away.  The  pain  of  the  world,  the  misunderstand¬ 
ing,  the  littlenesses  of  great  men,  in  great  places, 
and  the  greatness  of  little  men,  in  small  places, 
has  always  been  a  source  of  wonder  and  distress 
to  me.  I  longed  to  have  power  to  right  the  world, 
put  the  crowns  on  the  heads  where  crowns  best 
belonged,  and  snatch  sceptres  from  unworthy 
hands. 

You  know  me  so  well,  that  you  will  appreciate 
my  effort  to  come  through  this  city  of  doubt  about 
the  righteousness  of  such  conditions,  and  reach  at 
last  the  place  of  peace  where  I  could  sing  forever 
my  trust  and  confidence  in  the  ultimate  good. 

I  might  speak  to  you  for  hours,  and  you  would 
understand  every  word  1  said  of  my  indignation 
at  wrong,  my  love  of  the  good,  and  my  desire  to 
bring  the  worthy  to  the  light.  But  before  I  left 
the  body,  I  had  learned  a  few  of  the  lessons  of 
life;  and  now  in  the  land  of  spirits,  1  know  I  was 
right  in  trusting  that  all  wrongs  would  be  righted, 
and  weaknesses  made  strong,  if  not  in  this  world, 
then  in  some  other. 


212 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Poets  are  reformers.  Not  all  the  preaching  is 
done  under  the  shadow  of  the  cassock  and  the  sur¬ 
plice.  The  sermons  that  speak  themselves  out  of 
the  mouths  of  those  who  listen  for  the  voice  of 
Truth,  are  the  sermons  that  reach  the  souls  in 
need.  Truth  must  ever  be  our  mistress.  The 
clarion  call  to  duty  is  blown  at  her  behest,  and  no 
other  note  can  reach  the  inmost  ear,  or  catch  the 
attention  of  the  soul  that  waits. 

America  haunts  me.  It  is  a  phantom  unwieldly, 
ever  pressing  itself  in  upon  my  consciousness,  so 
wonderful,  so  beautiful,  so  expansive  and  grand, 
and  yet  the  playground  of  the  politician  who  sees 
its  mightiness  but  to  desire  the  strength  of  its 
mightiness  that  he  may  play  king. 

My  heart  is  with  England;  its  great  men,  its  rul¬ 
ers,  its  thinkers,  are  always  my  friends  in  thought, 
and  I  watch  with  eager  interest  whatever  comes  to 
the  Kingdom  which  I  loved.  I  cannot  forget  nor 
do  I  wish  to,  the  scenes  of  my  earthly  life,  the 
events  which  called  forth  the  best  in  me.  I  some¬ 
times  think  that  old  age  ripens  us  until  we  see  the 
green  fruit  like  something  foreign;  we  are  so  far 
apart  through  changes  which  sun  and  storm  have 


ROBERT  BROWNING 


213 


brought  to  us.  But  I  would  not  have  it  otherwise. 
The  yellow  grain  that  nods  and  sighs  beneath  the 
Autumn  sun,  can  scarce  remember  earlier  days. 

Shall  I  tell  you  of  some  of  the  people  who  have 
interested  me  in  their  activities  in  the  world? 
Gladstone,  who  clung  to  life  and  fought  for  the 
principles  which  he  believed  were  best,  has  always 
been  an  object  of  my  deepest  interest ;  so  different 
from  Salisbury,  as  you  and  I  know.  And  Glad¬ 
stone  in  his  life,  to-day,  studying,  inquiring,  mak¬ 
ing  effort  to  bring  men  to  an  understanding  of 
the  needs  of  his  people,  is  as  active  an  influence 
in  the  affairs  of  the  nation  as  if  he  sat  in  his  castle 
and  conferred  with  his  associates.  He  could  not 
live  forever,  and  some  of  his  influence  died  with 
him;  but  death  failed  to  quench  that  fire  which 
burned  ever  brightly  for  the  good  of  his  nation. 

He  has  expressed  the  greatest  interest  in  these 
themes  (spiritual) ;  he  was  far-seeing,  possessed 
the  power  of  the  eagle,  could  fly  to  great  heights, 
see  his  prey,  and  pounce  upon  it  with  the  deftness 
of  the  hawk.  But  that  superior  power  by  which  he 
rose,  that  eagle  eye  which  saw  his  prey,  saw  also 
the  unlimited  capacities  of  growth,  and  yearned  to 


21-4 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


know  something  of  the  larger  expression  of  life. 
It  is  no  unusual  thing  to  see  him  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  to-day,  working  as  vigilantly  as  if  his 
spirit  still  had  the  armor  of  flesh,  and  directing 
his  forces  as  only  a  great  prime  minister  may. 

On  one  occasion  lie  came  to  your  home  with  us 
and  expressed  deep  interest  in  the  philosophy  of 
spirit  return;  and  tomorrow,  if  I  may,  I  will  let 
him  speak  to  you.  We  have  thought  that,  per¬ 
haps,  you  would  like  to  have  an  opportunity  to 
speak  with  him,  and  to  ask  us  some  questions  be¬ 
fore  you  return  to  Ithaca;  and  if  that  is  true,  any 
time  after  to-day  you  may  ask  them. 

I  think  I  will  withdraw  now.  Good  bye. 

Robert  Browning. 

The  Control :  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  has  a  message 
for  you.  He  is  a  little  slow  in  coming.  Suddenly 
he  moves  forward,  looks  intently  at  you,  and 
says : 

Yes,  yes,  indeed  I  do  want  to  speak  to  you. 

My  whole  interest  in  life  is  to  be  of  service.  I 
say  this  with  no  particular  pride,  but  because  it 
is  perfectly  true  that  I  can  comprehend  no  possi¬ 
ble  use  for  wealth  or  education,  or  accumulated 


GOLD  WIN  SMITH 


215 


books,  or  treasures  of  art,  except  to  be  of  use  for 
the  growing  world. 

I  was  so  intensely  interested  in  the  affairs  of 
the  material  world,  that  I  never  thought  deeply  of 
the  spiritualistic  problem;  but  whatever  I  have 
found  so  far  that  makes  me  able  to  continue  my 
work,  and  interest  among  men,  I  am  deeply  grate¬ 
ful  for. 

I  know  very  well  how  my  name  is  being  ap¬ 
plauded  to-day;  but  it  has  little  effect  on  me.  I 
would  rather  men  would  save  their  energies  to 
devote  them  to  a  better  purpose  than  paying  eulo¬ 
gies  to  a  dead  man,  because  he  left  his  fortune  for 
the  support  of  their  alma  mater.  1  am  glad  I  had 
sense  enough  to  leave  some  freedom  about  my 
gifts.  I  too  often  saw  Universities  so  tied  up  with 
their  bequests  that  they  became  a  hindrance,  and 
I  long  ago  decided  that  T  would  leave  no  prints 
of  dead  men’s  fingers  on  my  will.  I  am  a  friend 
to  education,  now  and  always. 

I  was  quite  conscious  of  the  honor  you  did  me 
to  be  present  at  the  services*  as  representative  of 

*  His  funeral  services,  at  which  I  represented  the  Faculty 
of  Cornell  University. 


216 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


the  Faculty;  and  President  Schurman  represent¬ 
ed  the  University.  Am  I  right?  (Yes.) 

The  surprise  to  me  was  greater  than  I  can  ex¬ 
press  when  I  found  that  I  could  see  my  assem¬ 
bled  friends,  and  hear  their  words  of  sorrow,  and 
appreciation  of  me.  I  was  at  the  funeral;  where 
else  would  I  be?  An  event  of  so  much  importance 
would  take  me  from  a  sick  bed  any  time.  But 
while  in  the  body,  an  event  of  so  much  equal  in¬ 
terest  to  any  one  near  or  dear  to  me,  would  have 
taken  me  from  a  sick  bed,  whatever  the  result. 

I  find  that  many  men  never  lose  consciousness 
when  they  apparently  die.  Many  of  them  hear  the 
expressions  of  grief  over  their  dead  bodies,  and 
attend  their  own  funerals,  and  I  certainly  attend¬ 
ed  mine,  and  was  both  surprised  and  pleased.  Af¬ 
terward  I  found  it  very  easy  to  see  my  friends  still 
in  the  body,  and  to  hear  them  speak.  But  the  pain 
came  when  I  got  no  response  to  my  repeated  ques¬ 
tionings,  and  my  efforts  at  recognition.  My  first 
recognition  was  here  in  this  room  that  day  when 
I  gave  you  the  message.*  It  was  from  that  hour 


*  At  the  seance  on  the  9th  of  Sept,  the  first  of  the  series. 


GOLDWIN  SMITH 


217 


that  I  became  deeply  interested  in  the  philosophy 
as  a  philosophy ;  and  I  hope  I  may  often  come  to 
you  as  long  as  you  live.  [I  shall  be  delighted.  Mrs. 
Corson  was  much  attached  to  you,  and  Pauline 
loved  you  very  much.]  Pauline  knows  me  now , 
and  is  a  most  excellent  friend,  and  gives  me  much 
information.  Good  bye  for  this  time. 

Goldwin  Smith. 

Dear  Carrie,  can  you  give  me  a  few  words  be¬ 
fore  the  sitting  closes? 

Yes,  dear,  of  course  I  can  give  you  a  word.  Mr. 
Smith  is  the  same  strong,  beautiful,  independent 
man  we  all  loved.  He  does  what  he  believes  is 
right,  in  a  modest  way,  and  the  magnificence  of 
his  gifts  might  well  excuse  him  if  he  were  a  little 
dictatorial,  but  he  is  not.  Dear,  we  are  all  so 
happy.  There  seems  no  separation  for  us  now. 
We  have  all  been  at  home,  and  everything  is  all 
right  there. 

If  anything  could  have  made  you  dearer  to  me 
than  you  were,  it  would  have  been  this  visit  which 
you  have  made  to  the  city  which  I  love  for  its 
blessed  associations  of  the  past,  and  which  I  shall 
always  love  now  even  more  than  before. 


218 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Pauline  sends  her  love,  and  she  says,  please  ex¬ 
press  her  love  to  Lilian.  We  were  with  you,  to¬ 
day,  and  it  was  beautiful.*  We  were  very  glad 
that  we  were  not  cremated.  We  love  the  old  place 
best  where  our  bodies  are  now. 

In  many  instances,  cremation  is  better  for  the 
living,  and  in  many  instances,  for  those  who  go  to 
the  spirit;  for  they  are  sometimes  sooner  releas¬ 
ed  by  fire  from  their  attachment  to  the  body. 
There  is  such  an  attachment,  sometimes,  with  peo¬ 
ple  who  had  lived  grossly  physical  and  material 
lives.**  Now,  good  night,  and  good  night  from 
Pauline,  Joseph  and  Emil.  Carrie. 

*  Mount  Auburn ;  Miss  Whiting  and  I  looked  into  the  crem¬ 
atory  which  we  had  not  seen  on  our  first  visit  to  Mount  Au¬ 
burn.  It  appears  they  were  with  us  there. 

**  This  fact  is  expressed  in  the  speech  of  the  Elder  Brother, 
<on  Chastity,  in  Milton’s  ‘Comus’: 

“Such  are  those  thick  and  gloomy  shadows  damp,  oft  seen 
:in  charnel  vaults  and  sepulchres,  lingering,  and  sitting  by  a 
new-made  grave,  as  loath  to  leave  the  body  that  it  loved,  and 
linked  itself  by  carnal  sensuality,  to  a  degenerate  and  de¬ 
graded  state.” 

‘And  linked  itself’  means  ‘and  as  if  it  were  itself  linked.’ 

29  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

The  Control :  The  great  men  who  gather  around 
you,  smile  and  bow  with  much  pleasure  to  Mr. 


WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE 


219 


Browning,  who  is  escorting  Mr.  Gladstone  into 
the  place  where  he  is  to  sit  while  he  tells  me  his 
message. 

I  feel  highly  honored,  Mr.  Gladstone,  to  receive 
this  visit  from  you. 

You  are  no  more  highly  honored  by  my  coming 
than  I  am  to  be  so  cordially  received. 

If  I  had  been  in  a  place  where  time  and  oppor¬ 
tunity  had  been  at  my  disposal,  I  would  have  made 
investigations  of  these  psychic  phenomena.  They 
appealed  to  me,  as  they  must  to  every  man  who 
looks  an  inch  beyond  his  nose,  or  thinks  out  the 
plan  of  life,  a  moment  beyond  the  present  day. 

My  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs  served  me 
very  little  in  my  search  for  the  eternal  truths.  My 
life  was  so  bound  up  in  the  affairs  of  the  mun¬ 
dane  sphere,  that  many  of  the  subjects  I  fain 
would  have  studied,  had  to  wait  until  my  spirit 
was  free.  I  used  to  think  there  was  no  greater 
work  for  a  man  to  be  concerned  in  than  the  mak¬ 
ing  of  right  conditions  for  his  fellow  men ;  high  or 
low,  socially,  I  am  sure  never  affected  me.  I  made 
effort  to  look  at  the  right  and  the  wrong  of  ques¬ 
tions  presented  to  me.  That  is  not  always  easy; 


220 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


and  decisions  of  one  year  seem  sometimes  to  need 
a  revision,  the  next  year.  There  are  always  so 
many  complications,  especially  in  an  old  form  of 
government  where  men  are  wedded  to  old  ideas 
and  traditions,  and  fear  the  new  and  progressive 
policy.  One  has  to  be  more  than  fearless ;  wisdom 
must  guide  and  direct  the  brain  in  its  decisions. 

I  many  times  would  have  been  glad  to  leave  the 
affairs  of  my  country  for  a  time  and  bury  myself 
in  my  books  and  my  family,  and  enjoy  the  sweet 
exercise  of  all  the  individual  life,  as  you  know; 
and  for  all  the  years  of  my  life  of  service  and  toil, 
I  had  not  one  absolutely  my  own.  I  do  not  say 
this  by  way  of  complaint,  but  in  explanation  of 
my  almost  unforgivable  ignorance  of  these  mat¬ 
ters  which  are  as  plain  to  you  as  the  problems  of 
the  school  room  or  the  associations  of  ordinary 
life.  To  me  it  seems  most  remarkable  that  I  can 
stand  here  in  your  presence  and  make  myself  un¬ 
derstood,  when  I  am  perfectly  sure  that  in  most 
instances  my  communication  with  the  world  has 
ceased ;  not  my  interest  nor  my  influence,  but  my 
communication. 


WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE 


221 


I  am  exceedingly  curious  about  the  methods  of 
communicating,  just  as  I  was  about  the  telephone 
which  seemed  to  me  the  most  remarkable  applica¬ 
tion  of  power  that  I  had  ever  known.  Even  that 
has  been  supplanted  by  such  remarkable  improve¬ 
ments  and  additional  powers  that  I  marvel  not  at 
any  thing  which,  I  am  told  can  be  accomplished. 

I  found,  when  I  came  over  here,  that  many  of 
the  mechanical  contrivances  for  bridging  dis¬ 
tances  which  I  had  left  behind  me,  were  but  very 
bungling  substitutes  for  the  transmission  of 
thought  between  people  and  spheres  in  the  spirit 
life. 

I  thought  when  I  first  planned  to  speak  to  you, 
that  I  would  refer  to  my  interests  in  England. 
But  I  find  when  I  come  here  that  the  matters  of 
Home  Rule,  of  the  king’s  new  policies,  and  var¬ 
ious  items  that  were  of  deepest  interest  to  me, 
fade  away  in  the  light  of  this  most  beautiful  ex¬ 
pression  (spiritualism). 

I  realize  only  too  well  that  I  was  considered  as 
one  desiring  one  man  power,  that  I  held  the  fate 
of  England  in  the  palm  of  my  hand,  on  several  oc¬ 
casions;  but  I  assure  you  that  the  significance  of 


222 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


my  individual  expression  did  not  appear  to  me 
when  I  was  in  the  midst  of  the  battle ;  and  if  I  did 
not  always  yield  to  popular  opinion,  or  petty  pre¬ 
judice,  it  was  not  that  I  cared  a  straw  about  hav¬ 
ing  my  way  in  the  affair  except  as  I  was  sure  that 
my  way  was  the  best  way. 

Mistakes  are  made.  I  made  mistakes,  but  never 
because  of  personal  ambition  or  individual  ag¬ 
grandizement. 

One  grows  into  a  reputation  before  he  realizes 
it;  and  especially  a  man  who  has  strong  desires 
and  individual  characteristics,  as  I  fear  I  had. 

One  of  the  brightest  things  in  my  life,  to-day,  is 
the  time  I  have  for  association  with  people  of  my 
own  kind,  I  mean  people  of  like  tastes.  My  life 
was  so  largely  mixed  with  lives  of  men  who  were 
unlike  myself,  but  whom  Fate  or  Chance,  or  birth, 
had  thrown  into  the  arena  with  me.  It  is  a  most 
beatific  state  to  be  in,  to  find  one’s  self  placed 
just  where  one  ought  to  be. 

Classification,  in  spirit  land,  is  the  result  of  a 
man’s  own  tastes  and  desires.  How  different 
from  the  monarchy  under  which  I  lived !  The 
whole  spiritual  realm  seems  a  great-  Republic 


WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE 


223 


where  chance  plays  no  part,  and  fate  makes  no 
fools.  I  wonder  if  you  understand  what  I  mean. 
It  would  not  seem  so  wonderful  to  you  as  to  me, 
I  who  grew  with  the  understanding  that  some  men 
must  be  masters  of  the  fortunes  of  other  men. 

When  I  first  realized  that  men  took  their  sta¬ 
tions  in  life,  over  here,  according  to  their  con¬ 
victions  and  desires,  my  whole  plan  of  a  king¬ 
dom  fell  to  pieces.  So  unusual  it  seemed  to  me, 
to  see  men  of  peasant  birth,  but  of  kingly  char¬ 
acter,  step  into  the  station  where  they  belonged. 
Perhaps  I  can  express  it  in  this  sentence:  Classi¬ 
fication  is  by  character;  and  I  know  of  no  other 
place  under  the  heavens  where  that  law  holds 
good.  That  is  the  great  awakening  for  the  spirit, 
that  is  the  judgment  day  when  men  are  revealed 
to  themselves  by  the  place  to  which  they  natur¬ 
ally  drift.  Men  with  thieving  spirits,  stealing 
away  the  honor  of  their  fellow  men,  and  never, 
for  one  moment,  understanding  that  by  that  act 
they  were  fitting  themselves  for  the  companion¬ 
ship  of  ordinary  housebreakers.  And  men  of  that 
ilk  are  terrified  when  they  awake,  to  find  their 
rightful  inheritance.  It  was  one  of  the  great  sur- 


224 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


prises  to  me.  I  had  always  fancied  that  a  confes¬ 
sion  of  sin  somehow  gave  a  man  a  better  standing 
in  heaven.  My  theology  was  wrong.  If  I  could 
come  back  again  to  tbe  world,  and  live  among  men, 
my  energy  should  be  spent  to  give  them  an  under¬ 
standing  of  the  spiritual  life.  But  not  seeing  any 
immediate  opportunity  to  reincarnate  myself,*  I 
do  the  best  thing  I  find  to  do,  and  send  my  mes 
sage  to  the  world  through  you.  Nothing  is  of  such 
vital  importance  as  to  find  out  about  the  truth  of 
spirit  intercourse ;  and  I  ask  no  man  to  follow  me 
until  he  has  himself  been  convinced  of  the  reality 
and  possibility  of  such  communications.  And 
until  he  has  been  convinced  that  it  is  not  so,  let 
him  not  dare  to  deny  the  truth  of  any  statement 
sent  by  any  body  of  people  from  the  spirit  realm 
to  the  waiting  world. 

You  will  see  that  I  am  less  interested  in  the 
comfort  to  the  mourner  than  in  the  definite  effect 
on  the  building  of  character. 

It  is  no  wonder  men  grow  discouraged  and  dis¬ 
heartened  when  kept  under  the  despot’s  heel,  with 

*  I  understand  this  as  a  touch  of  humor,  not  that  he  be¬ 
lieves  in  re-incarnation.  All  spirits  with  whom  I  have  spoken 
on  the  subject,  have  denied  reincarnation. 


WILLIAM  EWART  GLADSTONE 


225 


no  hope  for  a  future  of  equal  rights  for  all  men, 
and  the  eternal  distinctions  of  class  keeping  them 
in  the  narrow  confines  which  they  hate.  To  all 
such  I  would  proclaim  the  joyful  tidings  of  salva¬ 
tion  by  character,  opportunity  by  aspiration,  and 
equality  through  worthiness. 

I  dare  not  talk  any  longer;  but  I  am  so  grateful 
for  this  opportunity,  for  two  reasons:  one,  that 
I  have  proved  to  myself  that  I  can  transmit  a  mes¬ 
sage  to  a  sympathetic  earth-clothed  spirit,  and 
the  other,  that  my  voice  has  broken  the  silence  of 
the  grave,  and  given  testimony  to  the  truth  of  this 
phenomenon. 

Good  night,  my  friend.  I  will  come  again,  some 
future  time. 

William  Ewart  Gladstone. 

1  am  deeply  grateful  to  you,  Mr.  Gladstone,  for 
this  message,  and  I  hope  I  may  be  honored  with 
many  visits  from  you  at  my  seances  at  home. 

The  Control :  He  smiles  when  you  say  that. 
He  is  much  pleased.  Mr.  Browning  turns  to  you 
and  says : 

‘We  were  honored,  were  we  not?  And  I  am  as 
pleased  as  you;  but  you  should  see  Mr.  Tennyson 

16 


226 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


and  Mr.  Myers.  Mr.  Tennyson  kept  saying,  ‘I 
knew  lie  would  talk  just  that  way.  He  could  not 
help  it.  He  has  seen  too  much  and  was  too  keen 
and  honest  to  be  blinded  or  hoodwinked  by  any 
religious  regalias  hung  about  his  neck,  or  any 
honors  poured  upon  him.  His  love  of  truth  gave 
him  the  light;’  and  Mr.  Browning  says:  ‘Never 
fear  the  kingly  heart.  It  will  always  respond  to 
the  master’s  touch.’  Mr.  Myers  says  of  Mr.  Glad¬ 
stone:  ‘He  knew  of  our  effort  in  psychic  matters, 
and  was  personally  interested  in  the  effort.  The 
only  thing  that  surprises  me  is,  that  we  did  not 
invite  him  before.  There  are  always  so  many  who 
desire  to  speak,  we  have  some  hesitation  about  is¬ 
suing  any  more  invitations  to  the  seances.’  Your 
wife  smiles  at  you  with  that  sweet  smile  she  had 
when  she  was  very  happy,  and  then  she  says : 

I  might  invite  any  number  of  people  to  visit 
you,  dear,  but  unless  there  was  something  in  you 
which  called  out  an  expression  from  them,  the 
messages  would  be  very  imperfect  and  incomplete. 
We  should  always  have  a  message  giver  and  a 
message  receiver,  both  attuned  to  the  same  high 
impulse,  for  the  best.  There  can  be  incomplete 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


227 


messages  of  almost  any  kind,  in  almost  any  condi¬ 
tion;  but  when  the  requirements  are  all  met,  the 
work  is  as  nearly  perfect  as  one  could  wish. 

I  have  been  writing  some  lines  of  my  own  over 
here.  You  always  made  me  so  proud  when  you 
spoke  well  of  anything  which  I  did;  and  I  shall 
wait  for  your  approval  of  the  work  I  have  been 
doing. 

I  am  glad  I  was  a  wife  with  a  companion  who 
did  not  wait  for  me  to  die  before  he  paid  his  tri¬ 
bute  to  me. 

You  know,  dear,  one  of  the  strangest  experi¬ 
ences  is  the  feeling  of  youthfulness  when  I  come 
here,  and  you  never  seem  old  to  me.  The  spirit 
body  is  fashioned  and  grows  side  by  side  with  the 
physical  body;  and  a  spirit,  who  looks  at  you,  sees 
much  more  plainly  your  spirit  body  than  your 
physical  one.  A  man  with  a  pure  heart  and  a 
strong  upright  spirit,  has  a  beautiful  spirit  body 
which  grows  to  maturity  and  fulness  of  expres¬ 
sion  as  the  physical  body  grows  old.  But  men 
who  fear  old  age,  who  have  no  particular  hold  on 
the  spirit  life,  shrivel  in  their  bodies  and  enter 
practically  infant  bodies  in  the  spirit.  You  have 


228 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


seen  young  children  look  like  shriveled  old  men 
and  women,  children  of  the  poor,  children  of  men 
and  women  of  animal  instincts  only. 

The  infant  bodies  I  speak  of,  which  small  old 
spirits  slip  into  at  death  (by  small  I  mean  mean), 
are  of  that  sort,  and  they  only  assume  powers  and 
upright  proportions  as  they  grow  in  spirit  and 
truth. 

The  signs  of  age,  like  loss  of  hair,  or  color,  or 
teeth,  or  physical  power,  have  no  bearing  on  the 
spirit  when  it  is  upright  and  fearless  and  true. 

To-night  is  our  circle  night  at  home,  and  we  are 
going  there ;  and  a  week  from  to-night  you  will  be 
there,  and  we  can  have  one  of  our  blessed  hours  to¬ 
gether.  The  boys  and  Pauline  and  I  give  you  our 
hearts  ’  devotion,  and  send  our  love  to  Eugene  and 
Cora  and  Mildred  and  Pauline  and  Rollin. 

Carrie. 


30  SEPTEMBER,  1910. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

I,  living  so  close  to  your  heart,  desire  to  claim 
my  right,  and  speak  first  to  you. 


CAROLINE  R0LL1N  CORSON 


229 


We  were  with  you  all  through  the  night,  and 
the  Indians  brought  refreshing  draughts,  and 
were  as  literally  your  nurses  as  if  your  body  had 
been  conscious  of  the  touch  of  their  hands,  and  the 
attentions  they  gave  you.  I  was  not  worried 
about  you,  for  1  saw  the  outcome;  but  I  felt  a  lit¬ 
tle  troubled  to  have  you  the  least  troubled  over 
any  condition  of  the  body. 

We  are  very  happy  to  feel  that  we  have  had  a 
privilege  granted  to  few;  and  our  delight  yester¬ 
day  was  increased  so  much  by  the  message  of  Mr. 
Gladstone.  It  was  so  strong,  and  from  his  heart. 
He  has  long  wanted  to  express  himself,  but  there 
seemed  no  way  for  him  to  do  it  definitely  until 
yesterday. 

Mr.  Whitman  desires  very  much  to  say  a  little 
to  you,  this  afternoon;  so  with  my  love,  and  a 
promise  to  return  to  the  dear  task  of  dictating  my 
message  to  you  when  he  has  finished  his,  I  will 
withdraw.  Carrie. 


WALT  WTHITMAN. 

Ah,  comrade  of  the  earthly  life,  I  give  you  joy¬ 
ous  greetings. 


2  30 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


Together  in  the  years  that  are  past,  our  souls 
have  responded  to  the  touch  of  the  same  blessed 
influence;  and  through  the  days  of  my  sojourning 
in  the  spirit  spheres  I  have  found  exhilaration  and 
happiness  in  drawing  close  to  you ;  and  I  look  for¬ 
ward  into  the  future  when  our  friendship,  begun 
so  long  ago,  will  be  sealed  by  your  presence  in  this 
land  where  to-day  I  wait  your  coming. 

Men  make  such  mad  endeavor  to  find  out  about 
God  and  the  mysteries  of  his  being.  Enough  for 
me  that  the  world  moves  on  unerring  in  its  course, 
and  that  I  move  with  it.  If  God  had  not  needed 
me,  I  should  not  have  been;  and  I  am  quite  con¬ 
tent  to  wait  for  the  revelation  of  the  Infinite  se¬ 
cret. 

Your  boys  frequently  ask  the  same  old  ques¬ 
tions  that  long  have  troubled  the  minds  of  youth¬ 
ful  questioners :  The  why,  the  when,  the  how,  of 
life ;  and  I  never  make  effort  or  pretension  in  an¬ 
swering  their  questions.  Sham  and  pretense  have 
covered  ignorance  since  the  world  began.  Adam, 
with  his  fig  leaf  in  the  garden,  began  the  preten¬ 
sion  of  the  human  race. 


WALT  WHITMAN 


231 


(Let  me  right  here  say  I  do  not  use  Adam  as 
one  who  believes  the  story  of  the  Garden  of  Eden ; 
that  grand  hoax  did  not  appeal  to  me.) 

But  as  for  me,  I  will  be  truthful;  and  when  I 
am  asked  to  explain  something  for  which  I  have 
no  explanation,  I  will  leave  the  answer  for  fools 
or  impostors. 

I  am  confident  that  you  prefer  that  sort  of 
teaching  for  your  sons ;  and  so  I  have  no  hesita¬ 
tion  in  speaking  freely  to  them.  The  conceited 
man  is  lie  who  considers  that  his  brain  is  the  key 
to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  infinitude. 

Grasses  grow  and  flowers  brighten  the  path 
where  our  feet  must  walk,  and  I  look  with  ad¬ 
miration  at  the  wonderful  expression  of  a  power 
I  cannot  understand,  and  let  my  joy  find  expres¬ 
sion  in  the  sweetest  songs  I  know. 

But  I  would  not  have  you  think,  dear  friend, 
that  I  am  content  to  live  as  a  grasshopper  in  a 
field  of  grain,  through  the  long  summer  days,  mak¬ 
ing  no  effort  to  know  anything  beyond  the  wheat 
field  or  the  wall.  I  do  make  effort  to  understand 
every  thing  about  me.  The  law  of  the  life  of  the 
violet  is  as  interesting  to  me  as  the  law  that  holds 


232 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


the  stars  in  their  courses;  but  to  understand  the 
law  does  not  mean  that  one  understands  the  omni¬ 
potent.  The  delight  of  our  life  in  the  spirit 
spheres,  is  the  ample  time  we  have  for  performing 
our  tasks.  No  sunset  bell  rings  for  us,  no  appoint¬ 
ed  time  holds  us  in  its  grasp ;  but  we  move  as  free¬ 
ly  as  a  mountain  rivulet  through  the  forest  or  the 
valley,  on,  on,  to  the  ever-rolling  sea. 

I  sometimes  think  that  poets  are  the  best  philos¬ 
ophers.  They  have  the  prophetic  soul,  and  catch 
glimpses  of  the  ideal  life  which  exists  in  the  spirit 
spheres,  and  weave  around  that  prophetic  know¬ 
ledge  their  songs  and  hymns,  their  prayers  and 
wondrous  ministralcies. 

Sometimes  when  we  enter  your  home  in  Ithaca, 
the  atmosphere  is  so  charged  with  the  spirit  fluid, 
we  hardly  realize  any  change  from  this  sphere. 
And  that  gives  me  an  idea  that  it  would  be  easier 
for  spirits  to  enter  the  homes  and  abiding  places 
of  mortals,  if  mortals  understood  how  to  draw  the 
spiritual  ether  to  themselves.  I  seldom  see  spirits 
of  a  high  order  in  banks  or  counting  houses  or 
large  factories  or  any  purely  worldly  institution. 
I  mean  a  place  where  the  whole  thought  is  centred 


WALT  WHITMAN 


23  3 


on  gain.  But  I  see  them  in  great  companies  in  li¬ 
braries,  art  museums,  and  places  where  the 
thought  is  stimulated  to  its  highest  and  best  en¬ 
deavor.  What  about  the  Churches?  some  one  will 
ask.  They  are  always  crowded  with  spirits,  some 
blinded  by  their  past  conceptions,  striving  to  pull 
out  of  a  familiar  atmosphere  some  strength  or 
staff  to  help  them  in  the  new  life.  Some,  with  a 
bigoted  and  zealous  spirit  urging  through  their 
influence  men  and  women  to  make  connection  with 
the  place. 

But  since  the  knowledge  of  life  after  death  has 
been  more  commonly  accepted,  and  the  under¬ 
standing  of  communication  is  more  generally 
known  by  spirits,  the  Churches  are  not  so  well  at¬ 
tended,  and  the  influence  from  this  side  of  life  is 
not  so  vigorous  and  emphatic  as  it  was,  toward  the 
church. 

It  is  enough  to  make  a  man  discard  his  mother’s 
prayer  when  he  sees  the  miserable  farce  being  car¬ 
ried  on  over  here.  Some  men  are  so  mulish  that 
they  believe  the  date  has  been  changed,  and  their 
entrance  to  the  glorious  heaven  of  rest,  whose 
gates  are  of  pearl,  whose  inmates  play  on  harps, 
and  whose  master  is  a  person  to  be  cajoled,  has 


234 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


been  delayed  or  deferred,  and  that  sooner  or  lat¬ 
er  there  will  come  another  change  which  will  take 
them  into  endless  bliss.  It  is  the  Catholic’s  pur¬ 
gatory  over  again,  and  many  good  denominational 
Christians,  when  they  find  the  life  over  here  a  real 
and  vivid  reproduction  of  the  life  they  left,  fall 
in  with  the  silly  notion  that  they  are  in  a  tempor¬ 
ary  state  to  be  changed  later  for  one  made  perma¬ 
nent  and  definite.  Their  day  of  judgment,  they 
believe,  is  yet  to  come. 

Now  we  have  to  fight  that  sort  of  an  element. 
It  is  exactly  like  your  world  where  people  won’t 
helieve  what  you  say,  won’t  take  your  evidence, 
and  still  go  on,  with  that  hypnotic  spell  over  them, 
cast  by  belief  in  a  Book,  and  the  fear  which  priest¬ 
craft  and  preacher  alike  have  too  often  instilled 
into  their  plastic  minds,  mud  minds  would  be  more 
:my  idea,  always  mud,  without  form,  without  the 
responsiveness  of  a  truly  plastic  make-up. 

I  have  never  before  talked  to  you  about  this 
element  in  the  spirit  life.  But  you  will  see,  by 
what  I  have  said,  that  death  does  not  revolutionize 
the  individual,  that  all  progress  is  growth,  that  no 
strides  are  ever  taken,  that  it  is  positively  diaboli- 


WALT  WHITMAN 


235 


cal  to  teach  error,  that  the  error  of  ignorance  is  as 
stultifying  to  the  growth  of  the  soul  as  wilful 
wickedness,  and  that  men  and  women  had  better  go 
free  with  the  daisies  and  the  lowing  kine,  than  to 
have  liberty  of  thought  stolen  from  them,  and  a 
boxed-up  three-foot  rule  of  theology  put  into  their 
hands  as  the  only  passport  to  God.  You  see  I 
grow  almost  rancorous,  not  from  what  has  been 
done  to  me.  I  escaped  the  thraldom,  but  not  op- 
probium;  but  my  free  soul  bears  me  witness  that 
unfettered  faith  is  the  wing  of  the  bird  that  finds 
its  nest  in  the  heart  of  infinity. 

It  is  to  my  brothers,  my  sisters,  the  wrong  is 
done;  and  for  them  I  cry  out  and  beg  that  the 
truth  may  he  given  them. 

I  intended  to  be  more  personal  in  my  message, 
to  tell  you  how  I  love  your  boys,  how  proud  I  am 
that  they  love  me,  and  how  pleased  I  always  am  to 
have  you  ask  for  me.  Your  appreciative  spirit 
draws  me  closer  to  your  side,  as  if  you  were  my 
human  brother.  My  thought  of  you  is  all  tender¬ 
ness  and  love ;  and  the  other  side  of  my  life,  what¬ 
ever  seems  out  of  balance  with  that  softer  mood,  I 


236 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


trust  is  only  occasioned  by  my  fierce  and  unadul¬ 
terated  devotion  to  freedom  and  truth.  Good  bye. 

Whitman. 

T  thank  you  with  all  my  heart,  Mr.  Whitman, 
for  this  great  message.  It  accords  with  my  whole 
attitude  of  mind. 

The  Control :  He  bows  when  you  say  that,  and 
bows  so  graciously  to  you,  and  he  says  ‘good 
cheer,  good  comrade,  till  I  speak  again.’ 

Your  wife  says  she  had  better  speak  now. 

CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON. 

There  are  a  few  things,  dear  Hiram,  that  I  per¬ 
haps  may  as  well  say  now;  for  at  the  last,  there 
are  always  so  many  messages  to  be  given,  I  may 
not  think  of  them. 

I  want  you  to  understand  how  much  I  appre¬ 
ciate  this  visit. 

Sometimes,  when  you  and  I  used  to  receive  the 
messages  together,  in  various  ways,  it  seemed  al¬ 
most  too  good  to  be  true.  I  never  doubted,  but  I 
sometimes  wondered  just  how  far  our  own  desires 
were  being  answered  in  the  messages.  But  not 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


237 


half  of  the  wonderful  story  of  the  spirit  life  had 
been  told. 

The  beauty  of  flower  and  trees  is  more  beautiful 
than  that  same  expression  in  the  Earth  life. 
Every  thing  seems  more  vivid,  more  real  to  us.  It 
is  as  if  in  the  Earth  life,  we  had  been  fishes  swim¬ 
ming  in  deep  waters,  and  had  seen  the  beauty  of 
the  sky  and  the  banks  through  that  denser  me¬ 
dium,  water;  and  that  suddenly  we  emerged  from 
that  and  came  out  into  the  clear  air.  As  air  is 
finer  than  water,  so  the  ethereal  air  is  finer  than 
your  air.  And  when,  from  our  spirit  life,  we 
come  into  your  atmosphere,  it  is  like  entering  a 
river  of  water.  It  is  so  different  that  we  some¬ 
times  struggle  in  it  as  in  an  unfamiliar  element. 
And  we  are  not  always  able  to  see  clearly  while 
we  are  in  that  element  as  we  do  when  we  are  once 
more  out  of  it  in  our  own  ethereal  sphere. 

[I  wonder  whether  you  see  the  landscape  as  we 
do,  when  you  accompany  us  in  our  drives.] 

That  depends  on  the  aura  or  atmosphere,  which 
you  create  about  yourself  ( generate  would  be  a 
better  term.)  The  ethereal  atmosphere  is  created 
by  spirits  (generated  again  seems  a  better  word), 


238 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


each  spirit  being  a  sort  of  human  dynamo  for  its 
production.  And  in  spheres  where  highly  de¬ 
veloped  spirits  live  together  in  harmony  and  con¬ 
cord,  the  light  about  them  is  dazzling  white,  and 
the  air  is  so  fine  that  spirits  of  a  lower  order  can¬ 
not  stay  there. 

High  spiritual  development  is  its  own  protec¬ 
tion  against  wrong. 

I  love  to  come  to  you,  whether  you  are  at  home, 
or  driving,  or  walking,  or  seeing  friends.  And 
you  have  so  long  been  living  this  ideal  life,  it  is 
quite  easy  for  any  of  us  to  sustain  a  long  inter¬ 
view  with  you.  Then  our  familiarity  with  your 
associations,  house,  place,  etc.,  do  not  make  it 
hard,  but  rather  simple  and  easy  for  us  to  see 
clearly. 

I  spoke  of  the  denser  atmosphere  around  peo¬ 
ple  in  the  body;  and  I  meant  that,  in  a  general 
way,  about  people  not  especially  connected  with 
us.  Love  is  always  a  lamp,  and  lights  the  way 
from  heaven  to  earth  with  a  radiance  as  wonder¬ 
ful  and  clear  as  ever  shines  from  Earth  to  heaven. 
By  love’s  clear  light  the  mother  may  follow  her 
darling  to  the  lowest  depths  of  sin,  and  at  the 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


239 


first  breath  of  aspiration  after  a  better  life  in  the 
sin-sick  soul,  may  exert  an  influence  and  power 
that  shall  save. 

Now  I  think  with  the  additional  message  of  love 
from  Pauline  and  our  dear  sons,  to  you  and  to 
Eugene  and  his  family,  I  must  say  good  night. 

I  would  like  right  here  to  send  my  kindest  re¬ 
membrances  to  our  housekeeper  and  her  daughter, 
for,  indeed,  they  keep  house  for  us,  and  we  appre¬ 
ciate  their  faithfulness  and  devotion  to  you. 
Good  night  again. 

Your  wife  in  the  spirit  spheres,  who  loved  you 
through  years  of  blessed  companionship  in  the 
Earth  life,  and  who  waits  for  you  to  complete  her 
happiness  in  the  home  beyond  the  grave. 

Carrie. 

1  OCTOBER,  1910. 

PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON. 

Here  I  am,  papa,  as  happy  as  a  bird,  and  filled 
with  that  enthusiasm  which  comes  from  living  in 
an  electrified  atmosphere.  I  want  to  tell  you  so 
many  things,  that  I  hardly  know  where  to  begin. 
It  all  seems  so  wonderful,  as  f  look  back  over 


240 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


these  sittings,  that  I  can  hardly  realize  that  you 
have  not  been  visiting  us;  and  this  building* 
where  you  have  lived,  will  always  be  a  point  of 
attraction  to  me.  Since  I  was  here  yesterday  with 
Mamma,  I  have  been  with  some  of  your  friends  to 
hear  a  wonderful  lecture  on  the  subject  which 
lies  so  near  your  heart  and  mine,  communication 
of  spirits.  There  was  a  great  company  assem¬ 
bled,  and  some  were  as  ignorant  of  the  plain  fact 
of  communication  as  a  Presbyterian  elder.  But 
most  of  the  people  were  drawn  there  by  their  in¬ 
terest  in  the  subject;  and  there  were  various  plans 
advanced  for  the  improvement  of  methods. 

It  seems  there  has  been  a  descent  on  the  physi¬ 
cal  world  by  a  great  body  of  materialistic  spirits, 
many  of  them  caring  nothing  at  all  about  making 
people  better,  but  just  getting  fun  or  mischief 
out  of  the  association.  But  when  somebody  spoke 
of  the  wonderful  good  that  might  come  from  com¬ 
munication,  Mr.  Gladstone  arose  and  gave  his  tes¬ 
timony  as  to  the  value  it  had  been  to  him,  just 
recently;  and  I  knew  that  he  referred  to  his  talk 

*  ‘The  Brunswick,’  in  Boston.  The  seances  were  held  in 
my  rooms  there. 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


241 


with  you.  He  said  that  every  good  thing  in  the 
world  could  be  so  multilated,  or  misused,  that  its 
original  purpose  would  be  lost  sight  of,  and  that 
he  felt  that  if  it  were  true  that  large  numbers  of 
materialistic  spirits  were  using  mediumistic  peo¬ 
ple  in  the  world  for  their  sport,  it  was  time  that 
the  high-minded  and  lofty  spirits  should  make  re¬ 
newed  effort  and  diligently  seek  to  stand  side  by 
side  with  their  loved  ones  in  the  Earth  life,  and 
with  the  weak  ones  who  might  thus  be  secured 
from  the  wiles  of  the  wicked  or  witless. 

Was  not  that  a  good  speech?  You  see  your  sit¬ 
tings  have  already  started  work  in  new  directions, 
and  will  be  of  use  to  the  world  through  the  up¬ 
lifting  influence  of  disembodied  spirits  who  care 
not  for  recognition,  but  seek  only  to  serve. 

Mr.  Gladstone  has  great  influence ;  and  his  opin¬ 
ion  is  widely  sought.  That  is  why  it  is  good  to 
have  men  like  him  converted  to  the  wisdom  of  in¬ 
tercommunion. 

You  say  you  did  not  know  about  materialistic 
spirits.  They  are  not  all  saints,  and  they  do  not 
lose  their  power  when  they  come  over  here.  But 
they  have  no  definite  power  over  people  who  de- 


u 


242 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


sire  to  be  right ;  and  their  influence  is  wholly  an¬ 
nulled  if  there  is  a  Band  of  orderly,  progressive 
spirits  about  the  family  circle. 

It  does  seem,  doesn’t  it,  Papa,  as  if  every  body 
ought  to  know  about  this,  and  save  themselves 
struggle  and  annoyance. 

Emil  often  laughs  and  says  they  ought  to  put 
lightning  rods  on  their  houses,  and  then  they 
would  not  be  struck  by  lightning.  He  is  very 
bright  and  very  handsome,  too.  We  have  very 
beautiful  times  together;  and  he  always  insists 
that  7  shall  go  wherever  he  goes.  So  you  see  we 
are  not  a  divided  family,  but  a  happy  one. 

T  expect  that  this  winter  will  be  a  busy  one  for 
you,  and  for  us,  for  we  want  to  make  more  mani¬ 
festations  and  come  more  closely  than  ever  into 
the  home. 

I  can  hardly  wait  for  you  to  come  here  to  us; 
but  Mamma  tells  me  that  your  life  work  is  not  yet 
finished. 

Did  [  ever  tell  you  how  much  I  love  the  big  pic¬ 
ture  of  myself?  Isn’t  the  hair  beautiful?  (Yes.) 
I  never  realized  how  pretty  it  was  on  my  head. 
But  the  picture  looks  lovely. 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


243 


Do  you  remember  when  I  was  ill  so  long,  how 
hard  it  was  for  me  to  get  in  the  right  position  to 
rest?  And  how  my  hair  troubled  me  then?  But 
Mamma  says  that  when  the  body  was  put  away,  it 
looked  like  an  angel  child  to  her,  and  that  many 
people  said  so.  But,  do  you  know  I  felt  so  much 
better,  that  I  could  hardly  be  sorry ;  and  I  remem¬ 
bered  over  and  over  again  the  things  you  told  me 
about  the  spirit  world.  You  said  it  would  not  be 
hard,  that  it  would  be  lovely,  and  it  was  and  is. 
Aunt  Clara*  is  just  as  dear  as  she  can  be.  She  suf¬ 
fered,  too,  before  she  came  over  here,  and  she 
was  very  thin  and  worn,  and  it  was  a  joy  to  her  to 
come,  just  as  it  was  to  me.  And  then  aunt  Ma- 
tliilde**  you  remember  her  coming.  She  was  not 
ill  so  long  as  aunt  Clara ;  but  it  was  a  relief  to  her, 
too. 

There  are  so  many  things  I  could  speak  of  which 
you  would  be  pleased  to  have  me  mention,  but  Mr. 
Goldwin  Smith  thinks  perhaps  he  will  have  to 
give  his  message  to  you  just  now,  and  1  may  re¬ 
turn.  He  is  a  lovely  spirit.  Paulie. 


*  My  sister,  Clara  Corson  Sholl. 

**  Mathilde  Rollin. 


244 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


GOLDWIN  SMITH. 

I  feel  like  apologizing,  my  dear  friend,  for  com¬ 
ing  just  at  this  time,  but  I  was  told  to  touch  your 
dear  daughter’s  arm  when  I  felt  I  was  ready,  to 
give  my  good  bye  message  to  you. 

I  have  no  desire  to  preach  any  long  sermon.  I 
want  only  to  tell  you  that  my  love  for  books  and 
education,  fine  pictures  and  tapestries,  and  all  the 
beautiful  things  that  make  up  the  handiwork  of 
the  world,  still  interest  me. 

If  I  have  one  message  more  than  another  to  give 
to  the  young  men  of  to-day,  it  is,  to  keep  busy, 
keep  busy.  Work  is  the  salvation  of  the  race.  If 
you  cannot  work  with  your  heads,  work  with  your 
hands;  and  if  you  cannot  work  with  your  hands, 
work  with  your  heads,  and  keep  the  heart  working 
all  the  time.  Some  live  interest  in  some  live  issue 
in  the  world  is  necessary  to  keep  the  spirit  poised. 
Lopsided,  sloppy  looking,  half  fop,  half  dude, 
wholly  brainless  youths,  there  are  in  plenty.  What 
we  want  is  studious,  interested,  and  devoted  lov¬ 
ers  of  the  fine  things  of  life. 

You  know  how  I  deplore  the  loss  of  manliness 
in  our  institutions.  No  more  rowdies,  but  scholars. 


GOLDWIN  SMITH 


245 


I  would  give  every  man  the  cliance  at  an  educa¬ 
tion  ;  but  let  the  rowdies  play  with  themselves,  far 
from  the  scene  of  our  Universities  and  Libraries, 
and  scientific  centres. 

I  have  been  here  long  enough  in  spirit  land  to 
understand  the  potent  influence  of  spirit  vitality, 
or,  as  you  more  correctly  term  it,  spiritual  vitality. 
And  I  am  pleased  to  see  you  lay  stress  on  that 
term.  It  is  borne  in  upon  me,  each  time  I  look 
out  over  the  world ;  and  whatever  I  may  have  done 
that  has  been  of  the  least  use  in  the  world,  at 
this  moment  I  believe  is  the  result  of  just  that  ele¬ 
ment,  the  spiritual. 

Long  years  I  knew  you,  and  always  prized  your 
friendship  exceedingly,  and  it  gives  me  more  than 
a  passing  comfort  to  tell  you  of  it  now. 

Your  lovely  wife,  whom  I  had  known,  when  liv¬ 
ing,  the  dear  daughter,  now  grown  to  splendid 
womanhood,  and  the  sons  whom  I  had  never 
known*,  have  all  proved  most  valuable  friends  to 
me  in  this  new  life.  Their  very  ready  assistance  in 
those  early  days  of  my  spirit  living,  was  beauti¬ 
ful  to  me;  and  many  of  my  own  people  who  had 

*  They  died  in  babyhood  long  before  he  came  to  America. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


246 


passed  over  before  me,  I  found  already  knew  them 
and  enjoyed  their  friendship  and  love.  And  when 
vour  wife  suggested  that  1  go  with  her  to  your 
home,*  I  went  gladly  and  enjoyed  the  evidence  I 
saw  given  you. 

[The  Control:  He  turns  around  to  speak  to 
some  one,  and  as  he  does  so,  I  see  a  cane  in  his 
hand.  It  seems  to  be  a  gift  from  some  body  and 
as  if  it  were  a  very  old  cane.  This  looks  like  a 
Louis  XV  cane  he  is  showing  your  wife,  because 
she  is  interested  in  French  things.] 

I  thank  you  now  as  I  recall  the  picture  you  sent 
me  of  yourself.  It  was  an  excellent  likeness. 

I  do  not  give  these  things  as  evidence**  to  you; 
but  I  wondered  if  I  could  talk  about  things  I  had 
used  and  owned,***  with  the  same  ease  that  I  ex¬ 
pressed  my  individual  hopes  and  characteristics, 
and  I  think  I  can. 

I  am  satisfied  to  leave  my  life  work  as  it  is. 
There  were  many  flaws  in  it;  but  I  always  made 
effort  to  have  every  man  enjoy  perfect  freedom 

*  To  attend  the  stance  soon  after  he  passed  from  the 
body. 

**  Evidence  of  his  identity.  ***  Now  that  he  is  out  of  the 
physical  body. 


GOLDWIN  SMITH 


2i7 


with  whatever  1  gave  him,  or  whenever  I  might 
have  the  privilege  of  helping  him. 

[The  Control  explains:  If  he  gave  him  money 
to  help  him  through  college,  he  gave  him  freedom 
with  it.] 

What  good  would  it  have  been  if  I  had  restricted 
the  use  of  the  money  I  left  to  the  University. 
Harvard  and  Yale  and  Princeton,  and  Leland 
Stanford  to  a  sad  degree,  are  all  tied  up  with  re¬ 
strictions  that  are  frequently  harder  to  overcome 
and  manage  than  downright  poverty.  I  have  seen 
too  much  of  restricted  giving;  and  I  loved  Cornell, 
believed  in  it,  and  wanted  to  give  it  some  help 
towards  its  future  and  its  freedom. 

Good  bye,  and  not  good  bye,  for  I  shall  find  you 
on  many  a  day,  and  shall  give  myself  the  pleas¬ 
ure  of  silent,  but  none  the  less  effective,  inter 
course  with  you. 

Goldwin  Smith. 

The  Control:  Mr.  Longfellow  asks  if  he  may 
give  a  message.  (Certainly). 

HENRY  AY.  LONGFELLOW. 

I’ll  only  keep  you  a  few  moments,  because  I 
want  to  come  this  afternoon;  for  tomorrow  the 


248 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


seance  will  be  largely  devoted  to  your  own;*  and 
I  am  right  here  and  ready,  and  so  think  I  can 
give  my  final  word. 

This  has  been  a  most  joyous  celebration.  I 
could  give  you  no  luncheon  or  a  dinner  in  your 
honor,  nor  even  offer  you  the  hospitality  of 
Craigie  House;  but  such  as  I  have  to  give,  has 
been  yours  unstintedly. 

The  little  visit  to  the  old  home,  on  the  [56th] 
anniversary  day  of  your  wedding,  was  to  me  like  a 
flower  culled  from  a  rare  garden  where  chaplets 
of  love  were  woven  by  Cupids  of  the  past. 

My  wife  and  I  were  with  you  and  your  wife,  and 
had  a  sort  of  a  visit  through  the  ether;  but  the 
finest  and  best  inspiration  which  came  to  all  of 
us,  was  here  in  this  room,  when  the  Indians  took 
their  places,  and  became  your  guard  of  honor, 
and  watched  you  as  only  faithful  Indians  may.** 
They  asked  no  other  joy  than  serving,  no  other  re¬ 
compense,  than  love’s  sweet  knowledge  of  their 
service. 


*  It  being  the  last. 

**  They  guarded  the  seances  from  intruding  spirits. 


HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW  249 

I  can  hardly  feel  that  this  is  to  be  your  last 
visit  to  Boston,  in  a  physical  body.  It  has  all 
gone  so  smoothly  that  it  has  seemed  no  effort; 
but  if  it  should  be  that  I  can  now  look  into  the 
future,  and  see  many  happy  hours  we  shall  pass 
together,  toasting  our  hooted  feet  (since  Paulie 
has  referred  to  our  kindred  boots*)  before  Emil’s 
chemical  fire,**  with  our  band  of  Indians  disport¬ 
ing  themselves  in  picturesque  fashion  on  some 
sunny  hill  in  Spirit  Land. 

Now,  isn’t  that  enough  to  make  you  long  to  turn 
your  back  on  the  scenes  of  the  dusty  old  Earth, 
and  join  us  in  the  clarified  atmosphere  of  Cloud- 
land,  where  the  elf  and  the  goblins  are  far,  far 
away  in  the  groves  of  Daphne,  may  be,  or  the 
cedar  hills  of  Lebanon. 

I  think  my  wife  never  had  a  friend  she  loved 
more  dearly  than  your  Carrie. 

Now,  adieu  to  this  lovely  tour  to  Boston.  I 
will  be  here  tomorrow,  and  all  the  days;  but  prob- 

*  High-topped  boots  which  she  saw  at  the  Craigie  House. 

**  The  chemical  fire  he  spoke  of  in  his  message,  got  up  by 
spirits  in  the  spirit  world,  in  imitation  of  a  wood  fire,  in  mem¬ 
ory  of  their  pleasant  memories  of  physical  comforts  in  this 
world. 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


2;iO 


ably  shall  not  attempt  to  speak  until  your  return 
to  dear  Cascadilla  Cottage. 

Longfellow. 

Hiram  dear,  I  only  want  to  bid  you  good  day, 
and  good  night;  and  tomorrow  the  boys  and  I  will 
come.  Carrie. 

The  Control:  She  says,  in  a  little  caretaking 
way,  ‘take  your  medicine  which  White  Cloud  or¬ 
dered,  and  you’ll  be  all  right.’ 

I  2  OCTOBER,  1910. 

The  messages  received  at  this  last  of  the  series 
of  twenty-four  seances,  are  all  parting  messages, 
from  my  wife,  daughter,  two  sons,  and  the  other 
members  of  the  home  Band.  They  have  all  been 
visiting  me  for  seven  years,  twice  a  week,  for  five 
years,  and  once  a  week,  for  two  years.  The  change 
from  twice  a  week  to  once  a  week,  was  made,  as 
they  explained,  when  they  were  advanced  in  the 
spirit  world ;  that  is,  to  a  sphere  of  higher  vibra¬ 
tions;  and  their  duties  were  in  consequence,  in¬ 
creased. 

PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON. 

Papa  darling,  Mamma  told  me  I  could  speak 
now,  because  I  am  so  anxious  to  tell  you  how  pleas- 


PAULINE  HENRI ETTE  CORSON 


251 


ed  I  am  with  all  the  lovely  attentions  Miss  Lilian 
is  showering  upon  you.  And,  tomorrow,  when  you 
go,  we  are  all  going,  too ;  but  you  will  have  to  pay 
no  fare  for  us;  and  yet  our  attentions  will  be  of 
more  service  to  you  than  the  porter  who  brushes 
your  coat,  or  the  maid  who  sees  that  your  seat  is 
all  right. 

This  has  been  the  happiest  three  weeks  I  have 
had  since  I  left  you  so  long  ago,  for  I  have  felt, 
every  day,  as  if  I  had  been  restored  to  your  life, 
in  the  old  intimate  relations  when  every  thing  you 
could  do  for  me  was  your  pleasure  and  my  joy. 
Joseph  and  Emil  are  both  here,  strong  and  stur¬ 
dy  as  any  Indians  in  Mr.  Longfellow’s  company. 
They  have  such  faith  in  their  power  to  accomplish 
what  they  determine  to  do  that  they  are  masters 
of  many  of  the  perplexing  conditions  that  sur¬ 
round  the  lives  of  some  young  men  who  have  not 
learned  to  have  confidence  and  pluck.  Pluck  is 
Mr.  Whitman’s  word;  and  he  uses  it  often,  and 
tells  the  boys  it  means  courage  in  its  best  sense. 

I  have  a  little  bit  of  sadness  over  your  going 
home  again,  but  only  because  I  shall  miss  these  4 
o’clock  seances.  But  you  will  know,  dear,  that  we 


252 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


are  there,  and  it  will  seem  good  to  sit  down  at  your 
own  table,  and  eat  your  own  kind  of  food,  and 
have  no  men  standing  around  for  your  orders, 

We  love  the  quiet  and  the  harmony  of  our  home 
life  in  Cascadilla  Cottage. 

I  am  not  able  to  think  much  about  the  things 
in  the  spirit  life  that  I  usually  like  to  talk  of,  with 
you ;  but  I  do  want  to  send  a  kiss  and  an  embrace 
to  Eugene,  my  dear  brother,  whose  brave,  upright 
spirit  gives  him  wings  to  rise  to  spiritual  heights ; 
and  I  love  the  family,  and  I  want  him  to  think  of 
me  as  present  with  them  many  times  when  they 
are  having  their  fun  with  him.  I  know  his  thought 
of  me  is  usually  as  I  last  looked  during  my  illness. 
He  cannot  consider  me  strong  and  buoyant  and 
full  of  animal  spirits  as  are  his  girls;  but  I  want 
him  to  know  that  I  have  animation  and  joy  and 
strong  expression,  to-day,  that  I  am  no  longer  the 
delicate  little  girl,  but  a  wholesome,  and,  I  hope, 
tender  and  brave  sister  of  his. 

I  do  not  need  to  tell  you  of  my  unchanging  love, 
unchanging,  unless  it  be  to  grow  stronger.  Now, 
father,  I  am  going  to  stop  speaking;  but  I  shall  be 
in  the  room  just  the  same. 


PAULINE  HENRIETTE  CORSON 


253 


I  must  tell  you  one  tiling,  though.  Dr.  Brooks 
took  me  to  a  Home  where  there  were  many  little 
children  who  had  no  mothers  with  them;  and  we 
had  a  long  visit  there.  He  loves  children*  and  has 
promised  me  that  I  may  have  two  or  three  of  these 
little  ones  to  look  after,  a  little  while  each  day. 
Won’t  that  be  beautiful?  For  I  love  children, 
too;  and  I  am  going  to  try  and  tell  them  a  great 
deal  about  flowers.  I  think  that  will  be  good  for 
them.  Good  bye.  Pauline. 

The  Control :  The  oldest  boy  steps  forward  to 
speak  to  you,  and  he  says : 

Father  dear,  you  are  not  the  only  one  who  has 
been  benefited  and  made  happy  by  these  visits. 

Ever  since  I  have  been  old  enough  to  under¬ 
stand  about  fathers  and  mothers,  I  have  been 
taught  that  you  were  my  father,  and  that  Mother 
was  my  mother.**  And  long  before  you  fully  rea¬ 
lized  that  we  were  grown,  and  individualized, 
Emil  and  I  were  conscious  of  our  union  with  you; 
but  for  the  first  time,  in  all  our  lives,  we  have 
been  able,  during  this  series  of  sittings,  to  talk 

*  Bishop  Brooks  had  a  special  interest  in  the  children  of 
the  poor,  in  Boston,  when  he  was  in  the  body. 

**  He  died  in  unconscious  babyhood. 


254 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


plainly  and  definitely  as  sons  to  a  living  father. 
And  now  we  are  both  going  forward  with  stronger 
impulses,  and  a  new-found  happiness.  Inter¬ 
course  feeds  love;  so  our  intercourse  with  you  has 
fed  our  love. 

So  many  of  your  friends  are  eager  to  say  just 
a  word,  that  I  will  say  no  more  now,  but  will  let 
Emil  come;  and  Mother  will  give  the  last  word, 
because  she  is  the  nearest  and  dearest  to  your 
heart.  I  want  to  be  remembered  to  Eugene,  also. 

Good  bye.  Joseph. 

The  Control:  Emil  gives  a  little  bubbling 
laugh,  and  a  little  quick  alert  movement,  and  is 
by  your  side,  and  he  says,  in  a  little  low  tone : 

Father,  I  want  to  whisper  a  secret  to  you.  Don’t 
tell  Miss  Whiting,  for  she  might  think  I  am  unap¬ 
preciative  of  her  care  for  you;  but  it  was  one  of 
those  things  that  you  couldn’t  refuse  when  she 
planned  to  go  with  you;*  and  while  it  is  very  good 
of  her  to  do  it,  I  half  wish  that  she  would  just  as 
soon  have  stayed  here  and  let  your  friend,  Mr. 
Perabo,  go.  And  he  is  disappointed,  too.  But  it’s 


*  To  New  York,  and  to  see  me  off  for  Ithaca. 


EMIL  CORSON 


255 


all  right,  only  I  wanted  you  to  know  how  I  felt 
about  it. 

[  would  like  to  see  New  York,  the  ships,  and 
the  ocean,  and  the  boats  on  the  river;  and  Mr. 
Whitman  says  that  some  day  he  will  take  us  out  to 
his  old  home,  and  on  the  way  we  can  stop  and  see 
some  of  the  wonderful  buildings  in  the  metropolis, 
and  the  wonderful  ships  on  the  sea.* 

Paulie  and  Joseph  forgot  to  send  their  love  to 
the  housekeeper,  but  they  do  now,  and  you  can 
take  mine,  too,  for  we  are  all  very  much  indebted 
to  her  for  your  comfort,  and  her  assistance  when 
we  come. 

Everything  all  packed  up,  father?  (Yes.)  And 
you  are  better,  because  you  had  such  good  treat¬ 
ment,  both  from  spirits  and  mortals.  The  stuff 
you  took  for  your  cough  looked  like  egg  lemonade, 
and  I  think  it  did  much  good.  You  must  remem¬ 
ber  about  it  when  you  get  home. 

I  wish  1  could  whisper  to  you  and  not  let  Sun- 


*  Not.  having  had  experience  in  the  physical  life,  earthly 
scenes  have  a  great  interest  for  him. 


256 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


beam*  hear,  how  much  I  love  her.  [The  Control: 
That  makes  me  laugh  to  hear  him  give  that  mes¬ 
sage.]  It  has  been  so  easy  for  us  to  express  to 
you,  through  her,  and  Mamma  says  that  her 
charm  is  in  her  obedience,  that  she  obeys  and 
questions  not,  which  is  more  than  I  do,  sometimes, 
for  I  always  want  to  know  why  I  do  things. 

That’s  like  you,  isn’t  it,  Father,  to  question 
why  you  do  things.  That’s  the  reason  why  you 
do  not  always  follow  the  plough  that  the  primitive 
man  made  furrows  in  the  minds  of  men  with. 

Now,  Father,  I  too  must  say  good  bye,  with  love 
to  Eugene  and  his  wife  and  three  children,  to  Miss 
Lilian,  to  Mr.  Perabo,  and  much  to  yourself.  And 
may  I  send  it  to  Mrs.  Soule,  as  well  ? 

Good  bye.  Emil. 

WALT  WHITMAN. 

I  don’t  feel  like  letting  the  opportunity  pass 
without  one  word  of  greeting  from  me.  All  the 
future  will  be  brighter  for  these  days  of  under¬ 
standing  converse. 

*  The  name  of  the  Control.  She  had  a  voice  of  great 
charm;  and  when  she  uttered  this  sentence,  it  was  enveloped 
in  an  electric  aura. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


257 


My  blessing  and  my  benediction  on  your  life  and 
efforts.  Your  gifts  are  wonderful,  your  insight 
into  expression  of  public  men,  most  keen,  and  all 
your  life  is  one  uplifting  thought.  Your  friend, 

Phillips  Brooks. 

HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW. 

This  is  almost  as  good  as  the  last  day  of  school, 
isn’t  it?  I  am  not  going  to  have  one  sad  thought 
over  the  discontinuance  of  the  daily  lessons,  for 
they  have  certainly  been  lessons  in  art  of  spirit 
communication,  to  me,  and  I  am  going  to  prove 
that  I  have  been  a  good  student  by  exercising  my 
knowledge  in  the  beloved  home  circle. 

Your  friend,  and  wife  wishes  to  sign  herself  the 
same.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  W.  Longfellow. 

The  Control :  Mr.  Myers  wishes  to  say  that 
this  is  one  of  the  prettiest  expressions  of  mes¬ 
sage-giving  that  he  has  ever  witnessed,  and  that 
he  feels  the  honor  is  his  to  be  included  in  this 
party  on  this  day;  and  he  adds  his  kindest  greet¬ 
ings  and  earnest  hopes  for  a  continuance  of  the 

t8 


258 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


same  sweet  intercourse  in  the  future  which  he 
has  enjoyed  through  the  sittings  here. 

Your  friend  both  sides  the  veil. 

Frederic  Myers. 

ALFRED  TENNYSON. 

Never  before  have  I  told  you  of  the  pleasure 
it  gives  me  to  sit  down  and  have  a  pipe-dream 
with  you.  I  enjoy  the  odor  of  your  smoke,  and  col¬ 
lect  my  thoughts  with  the  same  efficiency  from  the 
effect  of  it  as  I  used  to  when  I  smoked  my  own 
pipe,  in  my  own  garden. 

(I  haven’t  found,  Mr.  Tennyson,  that  I  am  in¬ 
jured  by  moderate  smoking.) 

Never  stop.  It  never  hurt  me,  nor  did  I  find  my 
power  smoke-dried  or  diseased  by  the  use  of  to¬ 
bacco.  A  great  many  people  who  never  drink 
coffee  are  perfectly  sure  that  coffee  upsets  the 
equilibrium  of  their  friends ;  the  same  is  true  with 
them  in  regard  to  tobacco;  but  it  is  not  so.  And 
you  and  I  know  that  coffee  or  tobacco  gives  the 
needed  stimulus  to  the  brain,  and  leaves  no  bad 
effect  when  not  abused  in  its  use.  I  had  no  notion 
of  having  my  good  bye  to  you  have  the  sound  of 


ALFRED  TENNYSON 


259 


parting  advice  to  a  yonng  man  about  to  depart  for 
College;  but  as  you  are  a  young  man,  and  as  you 
are  about  to  depart  for  College,  perhaps  my  ad¬ 
vice  on  tobacco  and  its  use  may  be  of  some  advant¬ 
age  to  you. 

In  any  event,  I  will  see  you  on  or  near  your  own 
campus  in  a  few  days. 

My  regards  and  the  regards  of  Lady  Tennyson 
to  you.  Tennyson. 

Just  a  word  in  passing,  dear  friend  of  mine.  1 
love  the  home  life  best,  and  will  come  to  see  you 
there.  Miss  Bennett. 

The  Control:  Then  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Browning- 
smile,  and  it  is  Elizabeth  who  speaks,  and  she 
says : 

We  simply  refuse  to  be  separated  from  each 
other,  or  from  you;  and  we  are  so  happy  to  have 
Lilian  attend  us  on  our  way;  for  we  go  with  you, 
and  your  loved  wife,  to  sweet  Cascadilla  Cottage, 
where  the  Autumn  glories  already  crown  the  hill¬ 
side,  and  the  beautiful  sunshine  falls  softly  on  the 
Lake;  where  the  door  will  swing  wide  that  the 
Master  may  enter,  and  the  silent  rooms  will  give 
sweet  greeting  as  he  once  more  takes  his  accus- 


260 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


tomed  place  in  the  cottage  that  belongs  to  his 
heart. 

No  good  bye,  say  we.  No  sign  of  a  farewell, 
only  our  hands  pressed  softly  into  your  own  as 
you  pass  out  of  this  place  of  sacred  memories 
into  the  active  busy  life  of  travel,  and  on,  on, 
speeding  toward  your  native  hills  and  valleys. 

Elizabeth  Browning 
and  Robert  Browning. 

The  Control :  The  Indians  now  all  stand  up 
and  make  a  little  sign  of  greeting  to  you.  They 
will  still  be  your  band  to  see  that  you  safely  pass 
through  the  whirling  conditions  of  the  big  city, 
and  are  safe  at  home  at  last.  Then  your  Carrie 
puts  her  arms  around  you,  and  with  a  face  all 
radiant  with  smiles,  says : 

This  has  been  a  blessed  time  and  not  the  least 
blessed  is  this  day.  Tomorrow  we  go  forth  again, 
bride  and  bridegroom,  as  in  the  old  golden  days, 
assured  that  life  or  death,  distress  or  disaster,  joy 
or  sorrow,  but  draws  us  more  closely  together  in 
a  bond  of  spiritual  union  over  which  preside  the 
holiest  influences  of  Infinite  Love. 


CAROLINE  ROLLIN  CORSON 


26i 


Love  to  my  Eugene  and  his  family,  to  Miss  Lil¬ 
ian,  Mr.  Perabo,  Mme.  Roge,  for  her  kindness  to 
you,  the  Medium  and  her  guides,  and  to  you  all, 
all. 

I’ll  be  pleased  to  have  you  give  the  diamond 
ring  to  Miss  Whiting,  with  my  love. 

Your  Carrie. 


Here  ended  this  series  of  remarkable  messages, 
all  being  from  spirits  of  an  advanced  sphere,  six 
of  whom  were,  in  this  world,  distinguished  poets, 
one  of  them  being  also  the  foremost  contributor  to 
psychology;  one,  an  eloquent  preacher  and  a  liber¬ 
al  and  noble  bishop;  one,  long  prominent  as  a  his¬ 
torian  and  a  political  writer;  one,  the  greatest 
novelist,  in  subject  matter,  America  has  produced; 
and  one  a  great  statesman  and  a  prime  minister  of 
England. 

The  messages  of  all  are  remarkably  character¬ 
istic  of  the  several  messagers,*  and  are  of  the 

*  I  use  this  original  form  of  “Messengers”  as  suiting  best 
here. 


‘262 


SPIRIT  MESSAGES 


highest  value  as  representing  the  spirit  world  and 
its  activities,  and  its  intimate  relationship  to  this 
world — a  relationship,  however,  which  is  more  or 
less  conditional,  that  is,  dependent  upon  the 
spiritual  and  mediumistic  state  of  this  world,  a 
fact  of  tremendous  importance  as  bearing  upon 
this  world’s  welfare,  its  religious,  and  even  scien¬ 
tific,  progress. 


INDEX 

Absolute  truth  to  be  found  only  within  man.  . .  19 

Activities  of  the  Spirit  World . 95,  96 

Age,  signs  of,  have  no  bearing  on  the  spirit 

when  upright  and  true . 228 

Allston  street,  house  No.  6,  visited . 152,  153 

America,  its  possibilities  for  romance  and  pic¬ 
ture  . 147 

Characterized  by  Browning  . 212 

Andrews,  Mary,  the  medium,  alluded  to . 206 

Augustine,  St.,  his  opinion  that  Christianity 

existed  before  Christ .  10 

‘Aurora  Leigh’  quoted  by  Browning .  98 

Austin,  Alfred,  as  poet  laureate,  alluded  to.  . .  .166 

Automobile  ride,  accompanied  by  spirits . 102 

Automobiles  alluded  to . 70,  71 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  alluded  to .  73 

Bennett,  Frances  E.,  her  messages,.  .  .66,  114,  200 

Blavatsky,  Mme.,  described  . 178 

Bondage  of  spirit .  29 


266 


INDEX 


Bonds  of  soul  only,  hold  people  together  in  the 

spirit  world . 200 

Boston  described . 105 

Brooks,  Phillips,  his  messages. 89, 119, 177, 181,257 

Characterized  by  Browning .  99 

His  work  as  a  spirit  alluded  to . 177 

How  he  regarded  Spiritualism  when  in  the 

body . 181 

How,  as  a  spirit . 182 

Browning,  Elizabeth  B.,  her  messages ....  57,  140, 

. 207,  259 

The  birth  of  her  son,  alluded  to . 208 

Her  father’s  ‘overpowering  care’ . 208 

An  inspiration  to  Browning  after  her  death. .  208 

Characterized . 127 

Her  influence  acknowledged  in  the  writing  of 

‘The  Ring  and  the  Book’, . 138 

Her  love  of  old  castles  and  ruins . 175 

Her  impression  of  the  Christian  Science 

Church  in  Boston . 109 

Browning,  Robert,  his  messages.  .  .54,  97,  134,  210 
Thinks  he  has  more  appreciative  readers  in 

Boston  than  in  London . 139 

His ‘Paracelsus’ quoted .  19 


INDEX 


267 


Buddha  alluded  to . 124 

Bull,  Ole,  his  violin-playing  in  the  spirit  world.  112 
Cascadilla  Cottage,  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  where  the 
seances  were  held,  and  direct  voices  are  re¬ 
ceived  from  the  Band . 75,  259 

Children’s  Homes  in  the  spirit  world . 253 

Child’s  play  is  this  world,  from  the  standpoint 

of  the  spirit . 107 

Christian  Science  Church  in  Boston  visited  by 

the  Spirit  Band . 108 

Christianity  existed  before  Christ .  10 

Classes  in  the  spirit  world .  14 

Classification  in  spirit  world . 56,  222-224 

Clothing  in  the  spirit  world . 110,  111,  122 

Concerts  in  the  spirit  world . Ill,  112,  122 

Confucius  alluded  to . 124 

Consciousness  or  unconsciousness  of  the  Uni¬ 
versal  spirit  .  15 

Conversation,  ordinary  . 163 

Conversion,  its  true  meaning;  beautiful  ex¬ 
ample  of . 35,  36 

Cornell  University . 247 

Corson,  Alan,  characterized . 52,  53 


268 


INDEX 


Corson,  Mrs.  C.  R.,  her  messages . 49-51,  61- 

64,  83-88,  101,  102,  105,  106,  110-114,  127,  128, 
131-133,  151-153,  170-172,  180,  181,  189-191, 
198-200,  217,  218,  226-228,  229,  230,  260,  261 

Corson,  Emil,  his  messages . 65,  75,  185,  254 

Corson,  Dr.  Eugene  R.,  characterized . 142 

Corson,  Joseph,  his  messages . 52,  143,  253 

His  views  of  the  Jews . 170 

Has  made  a  study  of  Tolstoi’s  work . 170,171 

Corson,  Pauline  H.,  her  messages.  .47,  64,  65,  102- 
105, 128-130,  172-180,  204-206,  239-243,  251-253 
Creeds  and  dogmas,  their  intolerant  dominancy  8 
Imposed  on  Christianity  by  the  unspiritualiz¬ 


ed  intellect .  8 

Cremation  . 218 

Cross-correspondence .  81 

As  a  test  of  spirit  identity . 195 

Craigie  House,  visited  by  the  Band . 83-86 

Crucifixion  identified  with  the  Hebrew  expia¬ 
tory  sacrifice .  6 

Long  a  chosen  subject  in  Christian  art .  6 

Death  does  not  revolutionize  the  individual.  .  .234 

A  gate  that  makes  all  life  one .  90 

De  Imitatione  Christi,  quoted . 31,  32 


INDEX 


2  69 


De  Quincey,  his  definition  of  genius .  39 

His  annotation  on  Matt  iii.  2 .  36 

Descent  on  the  world  by  materialistic  spirits..  .240 

Desires  have  voices .  82 

Devotion,  the  spontaneous  result  of  spiritual 

vitality .  16 

Divine  faculties  of  man  paralyzed  by  priest¬ 
hoods  .  12 

Drives,  accompanied  by  a  large  band  of  spirits .  60 
Ecclesiastical  history,  the  darkest  pages  of, 

due  to  creeds  and  dogmas .  8 

Eddy,  Mrs.  Mary  Baker  Glover,  alluded  to ... .  108 

Education,  what  it  truly  is .  22 

Should  induce  a  synthesis  of  the  spirit  and 
the  intellect,  each  acting  through  the  other  39 
Educating  as  distinguished  from  teaching.  .32,  33 
Edward  VII,  his  reception  in  the  spirit 

world  . 55,  56 

Enjoyment  of  life  in  Earth’s  sphere  and  in 

Spirit  Sphere,  contrasted . 181 

Eternal  word,  the  speaking  of  the,  conditional .  9 

Ether,  currents  through,  by  which  spirits  are 

borne  along . 102 

Evolution  implies  involution .  31 


270 


INDEX 


Facts,  a  mere  interest  in . 197 

Faith,  unfettered  . 235 

Field,  Kate,  alluded  to . 65,  84 

Friendship,  the  condition  of  true . 209 

Of  Tennyson  and  Browning . 137 

Genius,  as  defined  by  F.  W.  H.  Myers .  38 

How  regarded  by  Dr.  Nordau .  38 

Other  definitions .  39 

Akin  to  madness,  from  the  popular  stand¬ 
point  .  . . 167 

Geraint  and  Enid,  the  Idyll,  alluded  to  by  Ten¬ 
nyson  . 168 

Gladstone,  William  E.,  his  message . 219-225 

Characterized  by  Browning . 213,  214 

Psychic  phenomena  appealed  to  him  when  in 

the  body . 219 

Alludes  to  Home  Rule . 221 

Remarks  on,  by  Browning,  Tennyson,  and 

Myers . 225,  226 

God,  the  primitive  man’s  conception  of .  5 

Love  of,  what  it  should  mean .  17 

Gospels,  The,  exhibit  an  evolution  of  theology. 6,  7 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  his  message . .149-151 


INDEX 


271 


His  ‘Marble  Faun’  had  a  strange  fascination 


for  him;  an  unconscious  medium . 149 

His  mode  of  writing . 150 

His  happy  marriage . 150 

Longfellow’s  friendship . 150 

Thinks  ‘The  Scarlet  Letter’  was  written  by 
some  other  spirit. 

Heaven,  a  spiritual  condition . 177 

Not  a  place  of  eternal  rest,  but  a  life  of  love 

and  service  . 161 

Heredity  has  an  entirely  physical  basis .  29 

Hudson,  Thomas  Jay,  his  telepathy  a  trois; 
had  the  conceit  taken  out  of  him  in  the 

spirit  world . 193,  194 

Human  spirit  and  the  universal  spirit,  one  and 

the  same  .  16 

Ignorance  of  the  spiritual  life,  the  sin  of  the 

world  . 173 

Immortality,  its  proof  not  within  the  domain  of 

the  discursive  intellect .  23 

Indians  in  the  spirit  world,  characterized  by 

Longfellow  . 147 

Influence  of  the  spirit  world  on  this  world. ...  46 
‘In  Memoriam’  alluded  to  by  Tennyson . 168 


272 


INDEX 


Italian  Curia  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  .8,  9 
Jesus  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  a  different  per¬ 
sonality  from  the  Jesus  of  the  Synoptics.  .  7 

No  dogmatism  ascribed  to  him  in  the  Gospels  8 

King  ’s  Chapel  in  Boston . 153 

Knowledge  absolute  .  16 

Laureateship,  The . 167 

Life  in  the  spirit  spheres . 232 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  interested  in  spirit  commu¬ 
nication  . 101 

Literature,  the  true  function  of .  18 

Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  alluded  to . 192 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  his  messages . 72,  73,  108, 

109,  146-148,  249,  250,  257 

Domestic  tragedy  of  his  life .  73 

Love  of  God,  what  it  should  mean .  17 

The  attraction  for  spirit  visitation . 103 

The  divinity  that  broods  over  the  world.  135, 136 

Magnetic  currents  between  loved  ones . 102 

Manliness,  loss  of,  in  universities . 244 

Marpessa,  4 a  poem  prophetic  and  far  seeing’ 

(Tennyson).  .  167 

Materialistic  spirits  . 240 


INDEX 


273 


Mediums,  all  are,  in  degree,  no  care  taken  of 

them . 148,  195 

Men  of  facts . 197 

Ministers  of  the  Gospel,  the  true  function  of .  .  34 

Silent  about  Spiritualism . 173 

How  some  reckon  their  ministry  successful . .  124 

Miracles  in  Fourth  Gospel .  7 

Modes  of  travel  in  the  spirit  world . 102 

Mott,  Valentine,  his  message . 155-159 

Mount  Auburn  Cemetery  described . 172,  173 

Music  in  the  spirit  world . 204,  205 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  his  messages . 77-83, 

191-198,  257,  258 

His  contributions  to  psychology  .  38 

Nature,  love  of . 17,  18 

Nordau,  Dr.  Max,  alluded  to .  38 

Old  age,  its  limitations . 165 

Oneness,  attainment  to  a  sense  of .  16 

Pantheism,  science  has  led  to  an  extended  be¬ 
lief  in . 12,  13 

Paul’s  Epistles,  the  source  of  the  doctrine  of 

vicarious  atonement  .  6 

Peace  eternal,  to  whom  it  belongs .  31 

Persona]  God,  man’s  earliest  conception  of  a.  .  5 


19 


274 


INDEX 


Personality,  what  constitutes  it .  20 

Phillips,  Stephen,  his  one  wonderful  poem,  ac¬ 
cording  to  Tennyson . 167 

Poetic  power  sets  aspiration  aflame . 162 

Poetry,  its  great  function .  23 

Not  a  lost  art  in  the  spirit  world .  69 

Poets,  great  creative,  born  pantheists .  17 

Their  sense  of  Kinship  with  the  Universal 

Spirit  .  17 

Their  sense  of  the  unfitness  of  things  in  hu¬ 
man  life .  57 

.  .Poets  and  love  of  poets  must  be  in  any 

sphere  of  existence .  69 

Must  speak  from  the  depth  of  their  being. .  .162 

Are  reformers  . 212 

Have  the  prophetic  soul  . 232 

Pompilia,  in  ‘  The  Ring  and  the  Book,  ’  charac¬ 
terized  by  Browning . 138 

Psychology  as  taught  in  the  schools .  37 

Public  education  in  the  United  States .  36 

Religion,  no  half-hearted . 120 

Rest,  The,  offered  by  the  great  rest-giver .  24 

Restricted  giving  to  universities . 247 

Resurrection,  The,  what  it  signified  to  Jesus.  .  21 


INDEX 


275 


Rewards  and  punishments,  automatic .  13 

Roge,  Mme.  (Charlotte  Fiske  Bates),  alluded 

to . 84,  86 

Roman  Catholic  Church  and  ‘Modernism’.  ...  12 

Salvation  as  taught  by  Jesus .  41 

Scheffler,  Johann,  quoted  on  Salvation .  41 

Schiller,  Dr.  F.  C.  S.,  on  consciousness .  28 

Schurman,  J.  G.,  President  of  Cornell  Univer¬ 
sity  . 216 

Science,  the  Church  an  obstacle  to .  12 

Sermons  that  reach  the  soul  in  need . 212 

Seward,  William  Henry,  alluded  to . 101 

Sholl,  Clara  Corson,  her  message . 159-161 

Sin  means  imperfect  realization  of  the  spirit¬ 
ual  nature .  30 


Sjoegren,  Matilda,  alluded  to.  .66,  79, 116,  117,  203 
Smith,  Goldwin,  his  messages.  .46,  214-217,  244-247 


Sorrow,  a  theme  for  the  versifier . 162 

Soule,  Minnie  M.,  alluded  to . 78,  102 

Spirit  body . 26-28 

Spirit,  bondage  of .  29 

Spirit  communion  as  a  philosophy . 125,  126 


276 


INDEX 


Spirit  visitation,  a  growth  for  spirits  to  con¬ 
tinue  their  relationship  with  their  loved 

ones  on  earth .  90 

Its  importance  in  the  religions  world .  91 

Spirit  world,  activities  of  the . 95,  96 

Spirits  always  responsive  to  receptivity . 193 

A  saving  power  in  this  world .  13 

Enjoy  the  memory  of  physical  comforts  in 

the  Earth  life . 188 

How  Tennyson  regarded  them  when  in  the 

body  . 169 

Leave  the  body,  temporarily . 87,  88 

Materialistic  spirits . 241,  242 

Spirits  ’  power  of  seeing  long  distances .  47 

Undeveloped  spirits  retard  the  growth  of 

souls  in  this  life . 66,  67 

Spiritual  development,  its  own  protection 

against  wrong . 238 

Spiritual  education,  in  what  does  it  consist?.  .  19 
Spiritual  vitality,  the  all  in  all  of  Christianity.  7 

Potent  influence  of . 245 

Spiritualism,  the  great  service  it  renders ....  39-41 

Its  importance  in  the  religious  world .  91 

No  longer  needs  a  defence  of  its  life . 39 


INDEX 


277 


Its  contributions  to  psychology . 37,  38 

The  literature  of . 40,  41 

Its  effectiveness  toward  righteousness .  91 

Spirit  world,  activities  and  false  conceptions 

of  the . 95,  96 

Stovaine,  as  a  local  anaesthetic . 157 

Sumner,  Charles,  his  message . 106-108 

Synoptic  Gospels  and  John,  exhibit  an  evolu¬ 
tion  of  theology . 6,  7 

Synthesis  of  the  spirit  and  the  intellect .  39 

Teaching  as  distinguished  from  educating.  .32,  33 
Telepathy,  made  by  some  to  explain  all  spirit 

messages . 193,  194 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  his  messages . 58-61, 

161-170,  258,  259 


His  mode  of  writing . 162 

His  poem  on  ‘Wages’  of  Virtue .  14 

Resents  criminal  immigration  to  the  spirit 

world . 169 

Theatres  in  the  spirit  world . 101 

Thought,  transmission  of,  between  people  and 

spheres  in  the  spirit  world . 221 

Total  depravity,  the  monstrous  absurdity  of 
theology .  29 


278 


INDEX 


Travel  in  the  spirit  world,  modes  of . 102 

Truth  absolute .  19 


Unconsciousness,  domain  of . 20,  21 

Universal  Spirit,  the  degrees  of  its  manifesta¬ 
tion  determined  by  the  kinds  of  its  embodi¬ 
ments  .  25 

Universe,  The,  has  one  and  the  same  life .  16 

Upanishads,  quotation  from  the .  31 

Uprisings  from  the  unconscious  self .  23 

Versifiers  who  catch  the  ear  with  a  cunning 

manner  of  metre . 137 

Vicarious  atonement,  not  in  the  nature  of 

things  .  41 

Victoria,  Queen,  description  of  her  in  the  spirit 

world . 166 

Violin  playing  in  the  spirit  world . Ill,  112 

Virtue,  the  wages  of . 14,  15 

Vivekananda,  alluded  to . 178 

Vocal  interpretation,  importance  of,  in  spirit¬ 
ual  education  .  23 

‘Walking  with  God’,  what  it  should  mean .  17 

Watson,  William,  the  poet,  alluded  to  by  Ten¬ 


nyson 


167 


INDEX 


279 


Wealth  that  survives  death,  the  wealth  of  the 

lordly  spirit . 122 

Webster,  Daniel,  alluded  to . 101 

Whiting,  Lilian,  Mrs.  Browning’s  love  of. .  .57,  58 
The  close  spiritual  relationship  of  Mrs. 

Browning  with . 143 

Browning  glad  that  she  is  writing  the  lives 

of  himself  and  wife . 138,  139 

Alluded  to . 65,  96-98,  102,  108,  184,  189 

Whitman,  Walt,  his  messages.  .67,-72,  229-236,  256 

Quotation  from .  22 

His  poem  on  ‘Vocalism,’ . 34 

A  much  misunderstood  man .  50 

Characterized  . 146 

A  deeply  religious  man . 206 

Whittier,  J.  G.,  quoted . 210 

“Woman,  The,  with  the  serpent’s  tongue,”  by 
William  Watson,  alluded  to  by  Tennyson.  167 

Wordless  prayer .  24 

Work,  the  salvation  of  the  race . 244 

Wordsworth,  a  pantheist .  17 


«*«AI»BYCHOLOGY  LARORATMn 

®UKK  UNIVERSITY 


